Why do some communities in Hangzhou and Nanjing jointly raise prices?

It is reported that for most people, housing occupies a relatively heavy proportion in personal property. In addition to meeting the most basic housing needs, houses also place many people's expectations on the preservation and appreciation of real estate. When selling a house, the seller wants to sell it at a high price to get more income, which is understandable, but some people have extended this idea and want to "hold a group" to raise prices when selling a house, which sounds incredible.

Recently, some residential owners in Hangzhou and Nanjing were exposed as price alliance, trying to jointly raise prices when selling houses. What effect does this behavior have on the market? Is it legal?

The owners collectively proposed to raise the price of second-hand houses on the grounds that the community was well equipped.

Recently, it was reported on the Internet that some residential owners in Hangzhou jointly raised prices when selling houses. The owners of these communities have reached an understanding on "raising the price of second-hand houses" in their communities, and put forward a "guided quotation for second-hand houses" which is at least 1 1,000 yuan higher than the local market price of second-hand houses per square meter.

The same thing happened in Nanjing. At the end of April this year, Nanjing Farming Binjiang New Town Community was exposed to a joint price increase by some owners. They drew up a "Opinions on Informing Owners", asking all owners to join hands to raise the price of second-hand houses in the community from May this year 1, and stipulated "guiding quotations" for different units. Just like the situation in Hangzhou, the so-called "guided quotation" is nearly 10,000 yuan higher than the market price of second-hand houses in residential areas. Xu Xiang, a staff member of Nanjing Qiaobei Housing Agency, said that many owners may think that the current housing price in Farming may be low, because they think their facilities, transportation and school district in Qiaobei are good. However, the housing price of Farming has not been very high, so many owners of Farming feel that the housing price of their community has not come up, and their hearts are unbalanced. The owners held a collective meeting to discuss and think about the plan.

The reasons for the price increase are also given in the opinion: after changing the property company in the community, the health and safety conditions have been greatly improved, the commercial facilities are more mature, and the actual cost performance ratio is much higher than the current second-hand housing price. Therefore, it is suggested to raise the price to protect the property of the owners from the infringement of a few self-destructive behaviors of the owners. The intermediary said that the opinions spread in the official accounts of the owners and WeChat, which improved the psychological expectations of some owners on the price of their houses. Some owners who are going to sell their houses do come to the store to ask for a price increase.

Xu Xiang: An aunt came to register a house with a listing price of 2.6 million. Later, she probably got the news and came to our store to help me raise the price slightly. Anyway, I'm not saying that I'm particularly anxious now. Now the owner wants to raise it to 28 thousand or 30 thousand. The price I posted is not high either. Please add 200 thousand to me first

Excessive price increase will lead to the lack of market value and sales difficulties.

But because of the large area of the community, there are still many houses for sale at low prices. After the buyer's rational choice, the final transaction price has not changed much. The intermediary said that from the perspective of the local Qiaobei plate, the second-hand housing market has sufficient housing and transparent pricing. At this stage, it is more difficult for some owners to raise house prices unilaterally.

Xu Xiang, a staff member of Nanjing Qiaobei Housing Agency, pointed out that we can understand the owner's feelings of price increase, but if the price increase is excessive, there is no market and it is useless.

Judging from the version circulated on the Internet, this opinion was issued by the owners of the Faming Owners' Rights and Interests Alliance Committee. Tang Ping, a lawyer of Jiangsu Tianmao Law Firm, believes that publishing such opinions belongs to the spontaneous behavior of individual owners and is not legally binding on other owners.

Tang Ping said that the law is not decided by the owners' assembly or the owners' committee, which means that the owners of this community can choose based on their own meaning and interests. I can choose to join or not join your point of view. In this process, once the relevant actors use some coercive means to prevent others from selling houses or let others join these opinions, then the actors themselves may be suspected of breaking the law.

Expert: Voluntary joint price increase is not illegal, but it is not worth advocating.

If some owners voluntarily join this submission, legally speaking, is it illegal for owners to jointly raise prices? Yue Shenshan, a senior partner of Beijing Yuecheng Law Firm, said: If it is a monopoly industry or some monopoly enterprises jointly raise prices, it may be said that this behavior is monopoly, and the anti-monopoly law of this country has been adjusted. If some operators have not reached the level of monopoly, but they collude to raise prices, which may disrupt the market or unfair competition, then it is also illegal. But as a master, he only disposes of his own property. Because individuals like themselves sell houses, the bargaining power of both parties is the same, and there is no monopoly or forced transaction involved. From this perspective, it should not be illegal.

Yue Shenshan also said that the sale of houses itself needs to follow the market rules, and this kind of joint price increase by owners is not worth advocating. He believes that the joint price increase may affect that there is no way to clinch a deal, and both buyers and sellers will have certain losses. This kind of behavior is not worth advocating and encouraging, because the owner who wants to sell the house at a high price may eventually suffer.

Lawyer Tang Ping believes that this incident is based on the buyer's selectivity or different considerations of each owner, and he is pursuing his own interests. In the end, this incident may become a farce.