In some cities, the houses are almost being sold with a "buy one, get one free" offer.

The real estate industry is truly undergoing a significant transformation.

In 2023, Guangzhou introduced a new regulation on the计容 area, easing the size limitations of indoor balconies. It permits the balcony area to constitute 20% of the built-up area within the unit. Nevertheless, through this year's operations, in fact, by following the path of the "high-quality residential" pilot, the upper limit of the balcony ratio in some projects has been raised to 30%.

Easing the restrictions on balcony area has the most direct advantage of increasing the "gifted area" that homebuyers can acquire, resulting in a substantial increase in the occupancy rate.

After the introduction of this rule in Guangzhou, suddenly a batch of projects with an occupancy rate of over 100% emerged. One of the new projects under China Merchants in Nansha even has an occupancy rate of up to 140%.

What does this signify? For a house with the same total price, if the occupancy rate is 20% higher, it is equivalent to offering you a 17% discount.

In the past, when the real estate market was overly heated, spaces with gifted area characteristics like balconies have always been the focus of restrictions by local planning departments. This directly led to the unacceptably low occupancy rates of new houses in some cities between 2016 and 2021, which was widely criticized and even became a trending topic.

During that period, the occupancy rates of new houses in major cities across the country continued to decline. For instance, in the previous stage in Beijing, an occupancy rate of around 75% was regarded as normal, and for units with an occupancy rate of over 85%, the phenomenon of "stealing area" (except for villa products) generally existed.

But now, The trend has undergone a complete reversal, and various places have begun to ease restrictions and significantly increase the occupancy rate. Attracting customers by "stealing area" is going to be a thing of the past.

For example, almost the entire Zhejiang province has relaxed the occupancy rate to 120%, directly adjusting the calculation method of the plot ratio. Sky gardens, green balconies, landscape green pavilions and corridors in the community, and open-air wind and rain corridors can all be excluded from the计容 area.

Last week, Lanzhou also suddenly released two management regulations on real estate, namely "Several Measures on Optimizing the Planning and Management of Real Estate Projects" and "Regulations on the Planning, Construction and Management of Three-Dimensional Ecological Residential Projects in the Central Urban Area of Lanzhou City (Trial)". Among them, what excites potential homebuyers the most is the "11 situations for optimizing the calculation rules of the plot ratio", and the requirement that three-dimensional ecological residences should have "household sky gardens and shared platforms in the air", and large gardens should be constructed inside and outside the units.

Currently, The addition of "large balconies" to every household has become a trend, sweeping through major second-tier cities across the country.

The balcony expands the living space, Image source: AI

First-tier cities are relatively cautious in this matter, especially Beijing and Shenzhen, but they have also begun to loosen the restrictions.

Last Friday evening, the official website of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources "low-key" released the "Design Guidelines for High-Quality Commodity Residential Buildings in Beijing" (Trial) document.

Compared to the past, the two points that may have the greatest impact on homebuyers are:

"Encourage the setting of an open and transparent overhead floor on the first floor of residential buildings, explore the local setting of appropriate enclosure facilities in combination with the climatic characteristics of the northern region, to create a shared green public space that integrates the indoor and outdoor." The overhead floor is not included in the plot ratio, and new communities will have more supporting spaces.

"Create residential balconies with reasonable design, diverse forms, and various scenarios, and encourage the setting of open balconies in multi-story residential buildings." "Encourage the improvement of the indoor and outdoor greening environment quality by presetting planting troughs, planting boxes, planting ponds, and reserving water supply and drainage conditions on the balcony, to create a garden residential area."

In other words, Beijing is also encouraging the construction of large balconies, changing from the "spontaneous" actions in Shunyi, Fengtai and other districts to a city-wide advocacy and popularization.

However, regarding the setting of large balconies in new houses, Two completely distinct voices have emerged among Beijing residents:

One group applauds and agrees.

Because for many years in the past, Beijing residents have always envied southerners, mainly due to their houses. Due to various planning restrictions in Beijing, the overall product strength of residential buildings is one level lower than that in the south.

This is also a deep regret for Beijing's real estate developers. They often go to the south to inspect projects, but cannot implement the same in Beijing, and even become self-abased because of this.

And the other voice is opposed to it.

It is said that 12345 has recently received many complaints, and these complaints come from Haidian residents who are homeowners in Haidian.

In the past year, the listing price of second-hand houses in Haidian has dropped by 11.95%. Although it is the second most stable in the urban area after Xicheng, the housing price in Haidian is very high, and a drop means a loss of millions. If new projects all have large balconies, it will accelerate the price decline of old houses with a low occupancy rate.

To be honest, who wouldn't be tempted by an occupancy rate of 120% or 140% for a new house?

In the past, when you bought a 100-square-meter house, you only got 75 square meters. Now, when you buy a 100-square-meter house, you can get nearly 140 square meters, which is almost twice the area.

For example, take a look at this popular real estate project in Zhengzhou:

Schematic diagram of the apartment layout of China Merchants · Linyujing in Zhengzhou

With an area of 143 square meters, the actual maximum occupancy rate can reach 140%.

In terms of apartment layout design, the balcony is connected to the terrace, and every window is equipped with a bay window. The gifted area is even larger than the living room, which is like adding a "gifted belt" around the house.

And this project in Xi'an is simply a "balcony suite".

Schematic diagram of the apartment layout of Puyi Qujiang in Xi'an

And this project by Poly Development in Fuzhou provides a 20-square-meter terrace and a 40-square-meter public leisure platform, achieving "Buy 1, get 1, and an additional 1".

Schematic diagram of the apartment layout of Poly Tianjun in Fuzhou

Take a look at Chengdu Binjiang · Jiaozimanhua. The balcony has a depth of 3 meters and an area of nearly 23 square meters, and the maximum occupancy rate can exceed 130%.

Schematic diagram of the apartment layout of Chengdu Binjiang · Jiaozimanhua

This 24-square-meter balcony in Chongqing Liangjiangfeng has a depth of 2.4 meters, and just this balcony offers a 12-square-meter gift. Standing there will make you feel that life is much more comfortable.

Model room of Chongqing Liangjiangfeng

After the restrictions are eased, a 70-plus-square-meter apartment that could only be designed as a two-bedroom in the past can now be made into a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment, creating an additional room.

Some netizens excitedly stated:

If there are more rooms, one can't help but want to have one more child, right?!

For example, take a look at this project in the Beijing suburbs. There are gifts on both the north and south sides, and a 72-square-meter apartment can be designed into a compact three-bedroom that originally required 89 square meters.

The only question left for you is not whether the product is good, but whether you have sufficient money in your pocket.

Apartment layout diagram of Beijing Youth ONE

Currently, first-tier cities are still relatively cautious, but if you take a look at the projects in first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities, you will truly be astonished.

After the housing price has dropped, the price is not only inexpensive, but also the gifted area is large and the occupancy rate is high. People can't help but feel that those who have waited until now to buy a house are really fortunate.

But on the other hand, it is also somewhat worrying for those who currently own old houses, especially those without a location advantage. In the future, what can they use to compete with these new houses that have large balconies, sky gardens, and nearly double the area?