In a lakeside park in Kaizhou, Chongqing, the residents enjoy the dusk. (Photo/Chongqing Daily)

Chongqing - Fresh data and policy signals brought encouraging news for homebuyers and developers at Chongqing’s Autumn Real Estate and Home Furnishings Trade Fair on Sept. 3. 

Over the next three to five years, Chongqing’s property market is expected to remain broadly stable, with an improved supply mix and top-quality projects leading sales, though performance will vary across districts.

As one of China’s five national central cities, Chongqing is expected to see continued urban population growth over the next five to ten years, increasingly concentrated in its main metropolitan area. In 2025 alone, the municipality recorded a net inflow of 259,000 permanent urban residents, while buyers from outside Chongqing made up 27 percent of home purchases in the central urban area.

Housing markets in China and Chongqing are rebounding. "Judging by the pattern of the national housing market, the recovery is moving from first-tier cities to core second-tier cities," an industry analyst said.

In Chongqing's central urban area, from January to July in 2026, commercial housing transaction volume rose 0.4 percent year on year. Growth stayed positive for seven consecutive months. Across the municipality, combined transactions of new and second-hand homes grew year on year for three straight months.

Professionals on the ground during this year's fair are feeling the change. At a booth for a housing project in Liangjiang New Area, buyers clustered around consultants and agents. They asked about building facades and unit layouts. Staff said the project's overall sales in the first half of the year rose 25 percent year on year.

Another trend visible at the fair is the pull of "quality home" projects. The fair showcased 27 such projects with a combined 610,000 square meters of floor area. They feature upgraded layouts, green and low-carbon construction, and smart community features. While their prices run at about 1.5 times those of ordinary homes or higher, they draw three or more times as many transactions and property viewings.

National and municipal policy support is also boosting buyer confidence. On August 28, several national ministries jointly issued the notice on improving the commercial housing sales system. New projects must prioritize sales of completed homes. Projects that choose presale may not start selling until the building's main structure is topped out. All payments from homebuyers must be held in supervision accounts that developers cannot touch at will.

The Chongqing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development explained the intent and scope of the new policy. "In fact, the core goals of the new policy are to prevent delivery risks, protect the lawful rights and interests of homebuyers, and keep the industry on a steady and sustainable course. It is not a simple tightening of controls, and it does not deny developers a reasonable return on their investment."

Chongqing applies the new rules according to how far along a project is. Projects that already hold construction project planning permits continue to operate under the old rules. New projects will follow the new system.

Buyers are responding to the warming market. Ms. Shen from Nan'an District in Chongqing was at the fair, planning to sell her old home and move up to a new one. "For buyers like us, with a completed home, what you see is what you get. The layout, lighting, and amenities are all right there to consider, which makes buying much more reassuring," she said.

She added that buying a finished unit removes the double cost, both time and money, of renting while still paying off a mortgage on the old place.

Developers saw the change too. Marketing heads at several exhibiting companies said that at the spring fair, clients typically viewed a unit two or three times before committing. At this autumn fair, the share of clients placing deposits on the spot rose markedly.

For developers, financing support has also expanded. Working with financial regulators, Chongqing has implemented a lead-bank system. Each project is assigned one lead bank that extends development loans matched to the full cycle from groundbreaking to handover. Lending logic has shifted from the developer group's overall credit to the individual project's credit, and so project risk is moderately insulated from group risk on a case-by-case basis. Developers can also tap acquisition financing, while capital market instruments can unlock value from existing assets.

The new policy packages also aim to compress the approval process. The day a land deal closes, the developer receives its certificates. Construction can start the day the land is acquired. Multiple review stages are consolidated into a single one. Procedures that once ran one after another now run in parallel. Consequently, with the time from land acquisition to groundbreaking to completion shortened, the time developers' capital stays tied up in a project shrinks.

Chongqing is also stepping into the housing supply more directly. The municipality is expanding purchases of existing commercial housing stock. The units are converted into for-sale subsidized homes offered at capped prices to eligible households, and into subsidized housing for skilled workers.