Hangzhou: Down Payment for Housing Purchases Capped at 5% of Total Price

36Kr reports that Hangzhou has issued local implementation guidelines for reforming the sales system for commodity housing. The 'Implementation Guidelines' mandate a down payment system for ready-to-move-in housing projects. For such projects, real estate developers must submit a down payment sales plan to the housing administration department for filing after obtaining the building construction permit before signing down payment contracts with buyers; the down payment amount shall not exceed 5% of the total price of the commodity housing. All down payments made by buyers must be deposited into a fund supervision account, which is released once the property meets delivery conditions. The use of a unified model contract for commodity housing down payments will be promoted to strengthen contract management. Specific rules on down payment contract management and supervision will be issued separately.