The real estate market is welcoming a "small spring" as new policies continue to take effect, and market confidence is clearly rebounding.

As March begins, Shanghai’s residential real estate market has welcomed a long-awaited “spring uptick.” With the new “Shanghai’s Seven Measures” policy taking effect for a full month, existing home transaction volumes have continued to rise, and market confidence has clearly rebounded.

A reporter learned from the Shanghai Municipal Housing and Construction Administration that, in the first month since the new “Shanghai’s Seven Measures” were implemented, Shanghai’s total transactions of both new and existing homes reached 25,700 units, totaling 21.7 million square meters, which is 11% higher than the same period after the 2025 Spring Festival.

In a real estate agency storefront in Xuhui District, Shanghai, the head of the store said that recently, clients’ decisions have noticeably sped up: the number of clients who complete deals within seven days has increased, and the intent to enter the market among first-time homebuyer groups has been significantly strengthened.

Yellow Yan, a person in charge of a real estate agency storefront, said that as of March, the number of homes available for proactive transactions has already reached around 110 units, up about 60% compared with January. The store’s number of property viewings this month has reached over 280 groups, up more than 50% compared with January.

Mr. Li, a homebuyer, said that after the new policy was released, the provident fund loan amount increased, which has also significantly reduced the pressure on them to purchase a home.

In the first quarter of 2026, Shanghai across the whole city has shown positive changes in areas such as transaction volume, listing volume, market prices, and market expectations, with the supply-demand relationship becoming more rational.

Multiple places optimize and adjust housing provident fund policies and measures

Recently, many localities in Guangdong have actively promoted the introduction of housing provident fund policy measures. Through multiple initiatives—including raising loan limits, expanding the coverage of contribution holders, and relaxing application requirements—they aim to ease the housing finance pressure on contributors. Over the past month, eight cities including Shenzhen, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Yangjiang, Zhaoqing, Qingyuan, and Yunfu have successively released new policies, further optimizing the environment supporting housing consumption.

In Shenzhen, the revised “Shenzhen Housing Provident Fund Management Measures” will be officially implemented on April 1. The measures are a comprehensive revision of the provisional measures that have been in place for more than a decade. It clarifies that flexible employment groups such as individual business operators and freelancers are included within the scope for provident fund contributions and use. At the same time, it allows employees to voluntarily increase their personal contribution proportion based on the employer’s contribution proportion, with a maximum of 12%, and the proportion can be adjusted once within each housing provident fund year.

In Huizhou, the local government has raised the provident fund loan额度 for first homes to a maximum of 500,000 yuan for single contributors and 900,000 yuan for dual contributors, while second homes are 400,000 yuan and 700,000 yuan, respectively. It also removes the restriction of “business-to-provident fund” loans for the only home, further easing the burden of contributors’ loan repayments.

In Zhongshan, starting March 16, the provident fund loan policy for existing homes was optimized. For secondhand homes with frame structures, the down payment ratio was adjusted in tiers based on building age. Among them, the minimum down payment for homes with a building age of 20 years or less was lowered to 20%; for homes with building ages of 21 to 25 years and 26 to 30 years, the down payment ratios were also lowered accordingly. In addition, the provident fund loan额度 for purchasing housing in green building projects can be increased by 20%. Qingyuan, starting March 13, allows contributors and their spouses to withdraw their housing provident fund account balances to directly pay the down payment for pre-sold commodity housing, with funds transferred to designated regulatory accounts. In addition, the city has also simultaneously increased loan limits and removed restrictions on having local household registration across regions. With multiple measures stacked together, the benefits extend to contributors.

In addition, cities such as Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, and Yangjiang have also raised the maximum provident fund loan limits, further strengthening support. Some areas have introduced preferential policies such as increasing the loan额度 for contributors from multi-child families and for those purchasing green building or prefabricated housing, fully tailoring support to different groups’ housing needs.

New stock of subsidized rental housing hits the market; thousands of units are集中入市

Right now, it’s the spring hiring season window. Recently, the largest subsidized rental housing project in Anhui Hefei’s High-tech Zone completed delivery and has now been fully opened for leasing, bringing a new choice of high-quality rental housing for young people in the city.

At “Yijian Apartment” in a neighborhood on Wangjiangxi Road in Hefei’s High-tech Zone, Sun Yuka i, a recent graduate, has just rented a 32-square-meter single-person unit. To further meet young people’s housing needs, convenience stores, fresh-food supermarkets, dining and other business formats have also been introduced around the residential area, which has made it especially popular.

“Yijian Apartment” is one of the subsidized rental housing projects that were newly launched in Hefei in 2026. The project has a total planned gross floor area of about 126,900 square meters, with 9 rental residential buildings, for a total of 2,734 units. Currently, the project has released more than 1,200 units for leasing to the public, and it is planned that in the second quarter of 2026, the remaining units will be fully put into the market. According to information provided, in 2026 Hefei plans to introduce more than 10,000 units of subsidized rental housing. At present, thousands of units of subsidized rental housing have been newly rolled out in batches, located in areas including Hefei’s Baohe, Shushan, and High-tech zones.