In Huizhou, Guangdong, known as the “backyard of Shenzhen,” the price of seaside properties has plummeted from nearly 20,000 yuan per square meter to less than 3,000 yuan per square meter, with some units selling for only a few hundred thousand yuan, attracting little interest. The shift in Huizhou’s seaside property market from an investment frenzy to a pricing collapse reflects the reality of imbalanced supply and waning speculation.
Recently, a Weibo user named “Yichen Weibo” with 982,000 followers reposted a video on Weibo, expressing disbelief: “I can’t believe it!” Prices of Huizhou’s Shuangyue Bay seaside properties have plunged from a peak of 19,000 yuan per square meter to just 2,900 yuan! A unit with two bedrooms and 78 square meters, which was previously sold for 1.52 million yuan, is now listed at only 230,000 yuan. What exactly has happened behind this dramatic price drop?
According to the homeowner in the video, they purchased a 78-square-meter Huizhou seaside property in October 2019 for 1.52 million yuan, equivalent to about 19,488 yuan per square meter. Whereas similar properties from Vanke in the current market are priced at around 230,000 yuan with a unit price of approximately 2,900 yuan per square meter. This means property prices have dropped from 19,000 yuan per square meter in 2019 to 2,900 yuan now.
Why have Huizhou’s seaside property prices fallen from their peak? Analysts speculate that over 80% of property buyers in Huizhou are investors, with local residents lacking the desire to purchase, resulting in a severe oversupply of housing. Additionally, high holding costs such as property management fees have forced many investors to reduce prices for quick sales or even exit the market at a loss.
According to a recent report from the “Urban Roaming Project” public account, dramatic scenes are unfolding on the shores of Huizhou, Guangdong, with property prices plummeting from millions to just hundreds of thousands, while young people come to ‘lie flat,’ and retirees from all over the country form groups to spend winters for the sake of low living costs.
At the junction of Dayawan District and Huidong County, the most densely populated area for Huizhou’s seaside properties, projects like Country Garden Ten Miles Silver Beach and China Resources Xiaojing Bay stand side by side.
However, these once highly sought-after properties now face the dilemma of being unsellable. According to locals, properties that once sold for over a million are now selling for significantly less, some even halved or lower.
A visit to a 55-square-meter studio on the 8th floor during the peak period, which could have been sold for 1.2 million yuan, is now considered a good deal at five to six hundred thousand. Another 80-square-meter duplex loft on the 29th floor with a spacious balcony offering a distant view of the mountains is currently priced at over 6,000 yuan per square meter.
In addition to price reductions, issues related to the quality of the houses are also becoming evident. Due to the humid seaside climate, some houses built just a decade ago are showing signs of blackening and mold on their facades, giving them an aged appearance.
The owners of these properties come from diverse backgrounds. Some were impulsive buyers who followed the trend of property tours, while others are speculators from Shenzhen or Wenzhou, with some selling a property in Shenzhen to buy ten in Huizhou. However, with the sharp drop in property prices, the initial investment fervor has long since cooled off.
Faced with the drastic decline in property prices, owners have varied attitudes. A owner from Zhejiang, who purchased ten units over ten years ago at over ten thousand yuan per square meter, now considers herself unlucky. Another from Shandong complains that they were attracted by the developer’s propaganda, only to realize the lack of local industry, making it difficult to establish a sustainable living.
With the hype gone and properties difficult to sell, many owners are choosing to entrust their properties to agencies, converting them into guesthouses or hotel-style apartments to generate continuous income and prevent deterioration from long-term vacancy.
Today, the most common sight along the Huizhou beach is retirees from various regions in China with different accents. They fly south to spend the winter every year. A retiree from Henan shared that he opted for Huizhou this year after being in Beihai, Guangxi last year, renting a three-bedroom apartment with three friends for only 1,500 yuan per month.
Apart from Henan, there are retirees from Guizhou, Hubei, Heilongjiang, and other provinces joining them.
Moreover, when choosing to live long-term by the seaside, the issue of convenience cannot be ignored. Some developments are located in remote areas with a lack of commercial facilities nearby, making it difficult even to buy a bottle of water, let alone visit a large shopping mall. Even getting to the nearest major shopping mall from the relatively better-equipped Ten Miles Silver Beach development requires close to half an hour by car.
Additionally, dining costs are not cheap. Locals joke that “even buying a bottle of water by the seaside costs extra,” with a serving of scallion oil chicken rice possibly reaching 58 yuan, much higher than in cities like Guangzhou.
For elderly individuals retiring to the area, access to medical resources is of utmost importance. However, the medical facilities along the seaside are relatively scarce, with some small hospitals abandoned and the nearest tertiary hospitals often several tens of kilometers away. For the elderly requiring frequent medical attention, this lack of proximity to quality healthcare makes long-term retirement living unsuitable.