China's real estate tax cuts yield $1.6b in first month

BEIJING -- China's new tax policies aimed at stabilizing the real estate market have resulted in 11.69 billion yuan (about $1.6 billion) in tax reductions and exemptions in their first month of implementation, according to data released Saturday by the State Taxation Administration.

The tax measures, which took effect on Dec 1, 2024, encompass three key areas: expanded deed tax benefit, second home purchase incentives and value-added tax exemption.

The area threshold for homes eligible for the lower 1 percent deed tax rate has been increased from 90 to 140 square meters. This change accounted for 6.5 billion yuan in tax cuts and benefited over 1.4 million households.

These households accounted for 89.4 percent of all families receiving deed tax breaks, a 14.4 percentage-point increase from before the policy implementation.

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have offered deed tax benefits for second home purchases, resulting in 2.58 billion yuan in tax reductions. The policy affected 35,974 families across the four cities, with Shanghai seeing the largest impact at 940 million yuan in cuts for 15,572 households.

For individuals transferring homes in the four cities that have been owned for at least two years, there is no longer a distinction between ordinary and non-ordinary residences, and value-added tax is uniformly exempted.

This led to 2.61 billion yuan in new tax exemptions for previously non-ordinary residences, with the number of home transfers in these cities jumping 71 percent in December 2024 from the previous month.