Chapter 31 1. High housing prices, is it really that hard?

Rising skyscrapers continue to expand the River State skyline.The building grows taller day by day, and Du Linxiang's ambition grows with it. The various situations that were feared before did not appear, and the market prospects for skyscrapers are bright.Thanks to the steady stream of bank loans, the skyscraper has set a Hongxi record of building a floor in seven days in the past two months.The height of the skyscraper has reached 300 meters, becoming the well-deserved tallest building in Hezhou, but it has not slowed down its growth, and is sprinting towards the ultimate goal of 400 meters.

When the building reached 300 meters, Du Linxiang held a grand birth ceremony for the tallest building in Hezhou.It was at this ceremony that the skyscraper was officially named "Witong Building". The word "Weitong Building" is also the word that Du Linxiang made a special trip to Beijing to visit a calligraphy master half a month ago, and asked him to inscribe the word for the building. This weekend, Du Linxiang's schedule is full.On Saturday, I went fishing with Lu Youshun in the suburbs, and on Sunday, I went to the table tennis club with Zhang Qingbo to play, and in the evening, I had to attend Wan Shunlong's dinner party.But on Friday afternoon, Lu Youshun called and said that he was going to Beijing in a hurry, so he had to give up on fishing.Lu Youshun also said that the notice came very urgently. As far as he knew, many leaders from neighboring provinces had been summoned to Beijing.Half an hour later, Zhang Qingbo also called, saying that he was going to Beijing for an emergency meeting. He was on his way to the airport and would not be able to make it back on Sunday.

Du Linxiang asked puzzledly: "Mayor Lu was hastily summoned to Beijing for a meeting, are you in the same meeting?" "Is that so?" Zhang Qingbo said, "My meeting is internal to the bank. I will inform the governors of the provincial branches that I must rush to Beijing tonight." Zhang Qingbo muttered to himself again: "Strange, one of my classmates is the director of the Development and Reform Commission of a neighboring province. He called me just now and said that he was notified by the National Development and Reform Commission that he was going to Beijing for a meeting. Why do you ask everyone to go to Beijing?"

All weekend activities were cancelled, so Du Linxiang simply took his wife, Zhou Yuru, to take a Friday night flight to Tengchong, Yunnan to soak in the hot springs.Some time ago, Du Linxiang took a tour of the Middle East with An Youqi in the name of a project inspection.In luxury paradises like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the two enjoyed a life of sensuality and luxury.Seeing his wife at home, Du Linxiang inevitably felt guilty, so he decided to make up for it. Stayed in Tengchong for two nights, and on Sunday afternoon, Du Linxiang rushed back to Hezhou to attend Wan Shunlong's dinner.All the bosses of domestic first-tier real estate development companies attended the banquet.According to Wan Shunlong, these big real estate developers will get together every few months to discuss economic development trends and business management.Wan Shunlong is the only one who can enter this circle in Hongxi.Du Linxiang was able to make an exception to attend the party entirely because Wan Shunlong was the host of this party, and he specially invited two local real estate companies in Hezhou.

These big real estate developers are not only rich, but also famous.From newspapers and TV, Du Linxiang has known them for a long time.When Wan Shunlong introduced him, a well-known real estate agent in Shanghai also said: "Mr. Du, it's a pleasure to meet you. We have seen your extraordinary handicrafts when we visited Hezhou City today. That skyscraper is placed on the Beijing and Shanghai are not inferior." Hearing such praise, Du Linxiang was naturally happy. The hostess, Ma Xiaojing, wore a long purple dress and was among the crowd, smiling and frowning very appropriately.When greeting Du Linxiang, Ma Xiaojing said with regret: "There are so many big entrepreneurs who can't be invited at ordinary times. It's rare to gather in Hezhou today. Governor Jiang originally said that he would attend in person, but on Friday he received a Urgent notice, rushed to Beijing."

Du Linxiang let out an "oh", but murmured in his heart, Beijing this weekend is really lively.The big officials from all walks of life have arrived, what's the matter? When small businessmen get together, they cannot do without the word money in their three sentences. When big bosses sit together, the topic of money is intentionally ignored.Everyone talks about career, family, and health, but seldom talks about money.The jokes of these gangsters are always emerging one after another, and there are laughter from time to time in the private room. A well-known real estate agent in Beijing said: "The current government officials are much smarter than before. I have a classmate who is a professor at the Central Party School. Not long ago, I encountered an incident when he was teaching government information disclosure and corruption prevention. During the relationship, the professor casually quoted the famous saying—sunshine is the best preservative. But a secretary of the municipal party committee in the audience spoke, why do you say that sunshine is the best preservative? A piece of pork, put it in the freezer In the sun, it can be eaten after a few months, but it will go bad in two days if placed in the sun."

A well-known real estate agent in Shenzhen came to be interested: "Did the professor answer it in the end?" The boss from Beijing shook his head: "My classmate thought hard for a long time, but he couldn't come up with an answer. This question that didn't seem to be a problem actually stumped him. Later, he kept sighing that the level of many officials now is lower than that of professors. It is still high. The students have made progress, but the teachers have not kept pace with the times." Wan Shunlong said at this time: "In fact, this question can be answered. Whether sunlight is a preservative or not depends on what kind of meat it is, whether it is dead meat or live meat. A piece of dead pork must be put in the refrigerator of course, but if it is live What about pigs? Also, dead people can be preserved as mummies, but for a living person, it’s better to come out to bask in the sun.”

Everyone burst into laughter, and praised Wan Shunlong as worthy of being a great talent, and easily resolved the problem that stumped the professor.The dinner did not focus on the real estate market until the end.A real estate agent in Guangzhou said worriedly: "The real estate market has been so hot in the past few years. The volume and price have risen, and the pressure can't be suppressed. This market environment is not a good sign." The boss of a real estate company in Guangzhou said: "This weekend, many party and government leaders, as well as senior officials of the banking system, were all summoned to Beijing. It is not right to listen to the rumors! Will there be any problems?"

"I'm just waiting for something to go wrong!" Someone said, "The market is so good now, it's like the sea tide is high. No matter who wears underwear or not, they are swimming happily in the sea. When the tide goes out, those who don't wear underwear The people who are here will reveal their true colors. For everyone here, the ebb tide is a good thing and an opportunity." Seeing everyone nodding their heads in agreement, Du Linxiang's heart was in turmoil.He is very clear that compared with the big guys, he must be the naked swimmer. Early on Monday morning, Du Linxiang came to the construction site again and called a meeting of the construction directors.Taking advantage of the break in the meeting, he called Lu Youshun and Zhang Qingbo, but the phone of the other party was always turned off.It wasn't until after six o'clock in the afternoon that Zhang Qingbo sent a long text message from Beijing: "I'm on the way to the Capital Airport, and I'm with some leaders, so it's not convenient to make a phone call. The higher-ups have decided to carry out macro-control. It’s a hard-hit area, so you have to be prepared.”

Those bosses were well informed, and the predictions at the dinner really came true.Du Linxiang suddenly felt a chill coming!What he is more anxious at this time is, how strong is this round of macro-control, and to what extent will it affect the company?The next morning, Zhang Qingbo finally called.On the other end of the phone, Zhang Qingbo said dejectedly: "The wind direction has changed. Now the head office has issued a death order, and all localities must tighten money." Du Linxiang asked urgently: "Can the follow-up loan be released?" Zhang Qingbo said: "Don't even think about it. For the loan to you, I was approved by the head office for half an hour at the meeting."

In the next few days, various news gradually became clear.In order to curb economic overheating, Beijing has made up its mind to carry out macro-control, and the media also used "unprecedented intensity" to describe the specific rules of this round of macro-control.An authoritative newspaper even published consecutive articles on the main page criticizing the real estate market bubble and the harm of high housing prices to economic and social development. When Du Linxiang was a small contractor, he was not sensitive to macro policies, because it took a long time for the influence to pass on to him.This time it was different.On the day the policy was released, bank loans were completely stopped.The wait-and-see atmosphere in the market is unprecedentedly strong, and the sales of many real estate properties under the company have fallen sharply.The income is gone, but the money to be paid is also a lot.Those builders who had advanced the funds in the early stage came to press for debts one after another, demanding that Du Linxiang pay all kinds of money on time.In just one week, the huge Weitong Real Estate did not have much cash in its account. Bill Gates has a famous saying: "Microsoft is always only eighteen months away from bankruptcy." When Du Linxiang heard this sentence for the first time, he was still sneering in his heart.Not to mention Microsoft's family fortune, my old Du's construction team will not go bankrupt after lying down and sleeping at home for two years.Only now did he understand what it meant to be small and easy to turn around, and what it meant to be troubled by a big company.In terms of anti-risk ability, small companies are actually far better than large companies.Now Weitong is burdened with huge loans, and the houses are hoarded and cannot be sold.Not to mention eighteen months, it won't last a year. More and more creditors came to the door, and there was a contractor who went to Du Linxiang's house to collect the debt.Du Linxiang was so angry that he cursed: "You have made a million dollars by following me these years. Now you owe you hundreds of thousands, so you come to my house to act wild?" The other party did not show any weakness: "Boss Du, I ran to your house because I was homeless. I owe workers wages, and these guys have occupied my house for several days. What do you think I should do?" Du Linxiang remembered that this guy used to call himself the third master.In just a few days, he has changed from Third Master to Boss Du, from grandpa to peer, down two levels in a row!Du Linxiang has a deeper understanding of the phrase "money is master".Later, to put it bluntly, Du Linxiang agreed to pay 100,000 yuan the next day, and the man left angrily. The market environment continued to deteriorate.Some small real estate developers in Hezhou have already started to sell their houses by cutting prices. Seeing this, Du Linxiang also ordered the company to sell their properties at a discount. A few days after the price reduction advertisement was published, Lu Youshun called: "Lin Xiang, why did you start to reduce the price of your real estate?" Du Linxiang took the opportunity to vomit bitterness: "Mayor Lu, my company is almost unable to sustain itself. I can only use this method to return some cash." Du Linxiang still wanted to complain, but Lu Youshun said: "Don't say anything! Tomorrow night, I will invite you to dinner, and we will talk when we meet." Du Linxiang is waiting for the opportunity to meet Lu Youshun.Now, I am afraid that only this Lu Youshun is his only life-saving straw.However, what Lu Youshun said was inviting "you" to dinner, who else besides Du Linxiang? When Du Linxiang arrived at the hotel, Wan Shunlong and the other three real estate agents in Hezhou had already arrived.Wan Shunlong also jokingly said: "This is rare. Mayor Lu invited all the top five real estate industry players in Hezhou together." As soon as he sat down, a real estate agent said to Du Linxiang: "Old Du, you are not righteous. Now everyone is in such a difficult situation. You don't want to help each other, but cut prices to promote sales. Are you trying to kill everyone?" Du Linxiang said angrily: "They are all businessmen. If it is not difficult, the bastard would be willing to lower the price!" Another real estate agent chimed in and said, "Mr. Du, whose life is going well these days, isn't everyone still holding on?" It was Wan Shunlong who helped Du Linxiang excuse: "Lin Xiang does have his difficulties. The skyscraper project took up too much of his funds. To be honest, he had to cut prices to promote sales as a last resort." About ten minutes later, Zhou Qicheng, deputy secretary-general of the Hezhou municipal government and director of the housing management bureau, arrived.Zhou Qicheng looked at several bigwigs in the real estate industry in Hezhou, and shrugged apologetically: "Mayor Lu is busy and can't come. I have to come on as a substitute." This Zhou Qicheng, who was a secretary of the Hezhou Municipal Party Committee, is also a well-known talent , It's a pity that I have been unsuccessful in the past few years.It wasn't until Lu Youshun arrived that he deliberately promoted him.Zhou Qicheng has a pungent work style, and is regarded by the outside world as Lu Youshun's right-hand man.There were even times when Lu Youshun and Du Linxiang went fishing by the stream, Zhou Qicheng also followed them. All the people here are acquaintances, Zhou Qicheng said bluntly: "Mayor Lu was originally the host tonight, and invited the top leaders of the housing management, construction, land and other departments, as well as entrepreneurs from the real estate industry in Hezhou to have a dinner, but somehow, Mayor Lu suddenly said that an important meeting was going to be held, not only could he not come, but several other bureau chiefs were also called away, and only I was allowed to go to the appointment.” In fact, Zhou Qicheng didn't know the real reason why Lu Youshun missed the appointment.Just this afternoon, Lu Youshun received a call from Beijing, and was scolded head and face. The cause of the incident was that Lu Youshun said in an interview with the media three days ago: "The central government's macro-control at this time is undoubtedly a very correct decision. However, China is a large country with a vast territory, and the situation varies widely from place to place. For example, many coastal areas are indeed facing the risk of economic overheating. If regulation is not strengthened at this time, the consequences will be disastrous. In areas like Hezhou, the problem of economic overheating is not serious, but on the contrary, they still face the problem of how to speed up development.” On the phone, the leader said that Lu Youshun's words were typical obedience and transgression.First put a high hat on the central government, say a few compliments, and then do whatever you want at the bottom. In today's environment, Lu Youshun, as the mayor, naturally does not want to see the housing prices in Hezhou drop.He initiated this banquet just to cheer up real estate companies.Received the call from the above today, Lu Youshun felt that it is still necessary to keep a certain distance from the real estate company, and not to leave any excuses for the outside world.Therefore, the director of the housing management bureau was temporarily called to attend alone. Unable to see the mayor, Wan Shunlong complained to the director: "Director Zhou, the current market is too sluggish. Banks don't lend money, and consumers don't buy houses. If things go on like this, the entire economy will be affected." As the director of the Housing Management Bureau, Zhou Qicheng is also full of complaints: "Is it not easy to execute the order? I can not discount it at all. But if I really want to be serious, what should I do if the entire real estate market collapses? In the end, I have to blame my lack of work. I think I read the newspapers in Hezhou today, and it’s all nonsense. What do you mean by the government’s action to suppress housing prices? Go check the documents, which one says that the government will suppress housing prices, and the documents all say to curb the rapid rise of housing prices. How did it get into the hands of those reporters? , it became a suppression of housing prices? Mayor Lu was also very angry after reading the newspaper, and specially called the Propaganda Department to ask the teacher." Zhou Qicheng emphasized again: "For those companies that are still selling real estate at low prices, the government can't let it go. The Housing Management Bureau must come up with specific measures to kill this evil trend. We have issued a notice. For those who really don't Enterprises that listen to the greetings will come up with specific punishment opinions in the next step.” Zhou Qicheng attended the banquet today as Lu Youshun's representative, so what he said naturally meant what Lu Youshun meant.Zhou Qicheng has clearly expressed the position of the Hezhou government.No matter what the above policies are, at least in Hezhou, I don't want to see a sharp drop in housing prices.If housing prices are allowed to plummet, how will the land in the hands of the government be sold?Without the income from selling land, how can urban construction be carried out? Wan Shunlong said excitedly: "Nowadays, such courageous leaders as Mayor Lu and Director Zhou are really rare! Some irresponsible media are just fooling the common people all day long, saying that housing prices are too high, and even the government's Some people have lost their minds." Under the background of macro-control, real estate companies are in distress.In fact, Wan Shunlong was not the only one who met a leader who was able to support housing prices. All the developers present were inexplicably excited. Zhou Qicheng said: "There are a lot of things to talk about now, and it is inconvenient for the government to speak publicly. That's why I invite everyone in private to discuss how to overcome the current crisis. The support measures that the government should introduce will be introduced one after another, and your enterprises must be determined. Even Don’t be impatient when real estate is slow to sell for a while. Hold on! No one will cut prices, and consumers will always buy houses in the end.” Zhou Qicheng asked again: "Several big real estate companies in Hezhou, Mr. Du's Weitong is cutting prices these days. What's the result after these few days?" Du Linxiang drooped his head and said, "It's not ideal. I've got 20% off, but some people still expect to get 30% off in a while. Sales can't increase." Wan Shunlong said at this time: "This is normal. Consumers buy up and not down. Looking at the real estate markets in various countries, either the volume and price are rising or the volume and price are falling. It can save the housing market. Therefore, we must stand together.” Everyone understands that tonight's banquet is to say hello to several big real estate companies, and to reach an offensive and defensive alliance to jointly protect the market.The companies present here have also stated that they will never lower prices even if they do not sell their houses for a few months.When the boss of a real estate company was toasting Zhou Qicheng, he even sang a revolutionary song to express his ambition: "After the difficult current stage, the victory of the counterattack is in sight." The policy adjustment made Zhou Qicheng very depressed. He drank a few glasses of wine and expressed emotion: "Everyone scolds the housing management bureau. They don't know my difficulties. If housing prices fall sharply, the economy will be affected and urban construction will only stagnate. There is no other way, we have to let the common people endure the pain of high housing prices for a while.” At this time, Wan Shunlong laughed and said: "Director Zhou is indeed painstaking, but you don't have to blame yourself, high housing prices, is it really that hard?" Zhou Qicheng said: "You, Mr. Wan, are so good that you get a bargain! Which ordinary people are willing to pay more when buying a house? We have worked hard to maintain the house price, and it is a last resort." Wan Shunlong said: "In the past, I had the same opinion as you, and I even felt a little guilty in my heart. But after one incident, my attitude changed 180 degrees." Everyone was interested, and Wan Shunlong said: "I have a Taiwanese businessman friend. When we drink together, he also laments the high housing prices in Taiwan. But one year, he, who has never cared about politics, wanted to rush back. Vote in the mayoral election. Why? Because a candidate from a political party actually pointed out that the housing prices in the city are too high in his speech. If he is elected, he will suppress housing prices. The Taiwanese businessman friend was very anxious when he heard this Yes. The house I bought with great difficulty, isn’t your move making my wealth shrink?” Wan Shunlong went on to say: "Taiwanese businessmen are a wealthy class, so naturally they don't want housing prices to plunge. But this incident also aroused my interest, and I continued to pay attention to the local elections. As a result, the candidate who advocated suppressing housing prices turned out to be It was a disastrous defeat. I wondered, from the perspective of social sentiment, ordinary people don’t like high housing prices. Especially that Taiwanese businessman friend told me that whenever a candidate criticizes high housing prices, the audience always cheers .But why the election result was a disastrous defeat?" Zhou Qicheng asked puzzledly, "Tell me the reason." Wan Shunlong said: "The friend told me that in his city, 70% of the voters are homeowners. For these people, the most worrying thing is the plunge in housing prices. Therefore, the candidate's fiasco is not enough. Strange. Then, I asked him again, don’t you often complain when drinking together, saying that housing prices in Taiwan are too high? But this friend said that high housing prices has become a derogatory term now. Use it to criticize a few words, but when it’s time to cut your own flesh, you will feel bad.” Wan Shunlong continued: "When I tell this story, I don't mean that the higher the housing price, the better, or that high housing prices are justified. Rather, we have to distinguish the truth from the falsehood in the face of the hustle and bustle of public opinion. For example, , There are ten people in total, eight of them have houses, and two of them don’t. Of course these eight people hope that housing prices will continue to rise, but they often don’t speak up. The other two people swear all day long that housing prices are too high. Ten people Here, there are two who yell loudly, and eight who are silent. From the outside world, it seems that ten people are condemning the high housing prices, but it is not the case at all.” Zhou Qicheng put down his chopsticks and said, "Mr. Wan, I haven't really thought about the question you mentioned. Let's just talk about those civil servants in Hezhou, who don't have two or three houses. The higher the housing price in Hezhou, the happier they are. But When working in an agency, this group of people should follow the trend and criticize the high housing price." Wan Shunlong laughed loudly: "This is a common phenomenon now. When I go to Beijing to take a taxi, every taxi driver scolds the high housing prices in Beijing, which is simply full of complaints. But are they telling the truth? I don't think so! Outside the city People cannot go to Beijing to work as taxi drivers, so Beijing taxi drivers are all locals. Most of them have houses at home. It’s not that Beijing’s housing prices have skyrocketed in recent years, their dilapidated courtyard houses can Will it sell for tens of millions of dollars?" Du Linxiang found this topic very interesting, so he asked: "What Mr. Wan said is indeed reasonable. Then what is the reason that makes the outside world criticize the high housing prices?" Wan Shunlong thought for a while and said: "I think there are two reasons. The first one is that the Chinese have always had the habit of scolding the rise but not the fall. When the price of something goes up, the public opinion unanimously criticizes it. People are silent. One of my classmates is an expert on agricultural issues in Beijing. He has always had a view that the price of agricultural products in China should have been raised long ago. He even expressed indignation that why Chinese farmers are poor is because food is so cheap The citizens of Beijing and Shanghai can afford housing prices and oil prices that are in line with international standards, but why can’t they afford food prices that are in line with international standards? To put it bluntly, this is the citizens exploiting farmers. He even said that the current price of meat and food Even if it is doubled, the middle class in the city is acceptable. And the poor class in the city can be assisted by the government by distributing living allowances. In this way, the income of farmers will immediately increase significantly. The game of chess is completely alive." Wan Shunlong said: "For the time being, regardless of whether my classmate's views are correct or not, he has spoken out for so many years, but it has not aroused much response. However, not long ago, the rise in pork prices has aroused the attention of the whole society. Speaking of this, I That classmate really sighed. Especially when the reporter interviewed a passerby on the side of the road complaining about the price increase of pork, he couldn’t help cursing and saying, you know how hard it is for farmers to raise pigs, how much money can they earn by selling a pig? Do you know? Money to carry an LV bag, but no money to buy pork!" Hearing what Wan Shunlong said, everyone at the table burst into laughter.Wan Shunlong continued: "What I just said is the first reason. As for the second point, I think it has something to do with who has the right to speak. I took a rough look. In Chinese cities, half of the people's homes have If you have a house, don’t look at them cursing from time to time, but they don’t want the house price to drop in their hearts. There is still a quarter of them, no matter how much the house price falls, they can’t afford a house. These people are actually not sensitive to house prices. The other quarter are people who are planning to buy a house, and of course they are eager for a sharp drop in housing prices. Most of the reporters and editors in the media are such people.” Zhou Qicheng clapped his palms and sighed: "Mr. Wan is worthy of being a Confucian businessman. Your incisive analysis is an eye-opener for me. Just now I was talking about housing prices, and I remembered another thing." According to Zhou Qicheng, one of his friends is the leader of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. In order to alleviate traffic congestion, Beijing introduced a measure to limit traffic with tail numbers.A website conducted a public opinion survey, but the result was a lot of criticism, as high as 80% of the people opposed it.Later, the government commissioned a survey company to conduct a survey on car owners in Beijing, but found that nearly 60% of them supported this measure.The contrast is so great that many people did not expect it.But it's not surprising if you think about it carefully. Netizens from all over the country can participate in the online survey, and many people even oppose it for the sake of opposition.However, car owners in the Beijing area who really have a stake in this policy have a very different perspective from others. Wan Shunlong said with a smile: "However, we can only speak in private. Just like Director Zhou, you can't publicly express your support for high housing prices, so I can't publish these words to the public. Otherwise, I will be scolded again. Become a rich and unkind profiteer." Zhou Qicheng said: "Yes, the current atmosphere is such that people who understand can only speak insanely. Mr. Wan, on the whole, do you think housing prices can be controlled?" "How is it possible?" Wan Shunlong said, "The current situation is that ordinary people have a rigid need to buy a house, enterprises have a profit-seeking nature, and local governments are worried that the decline in housing prices will endanger the economy. Facing such an unbreakable iron triangle, how can housing prices fall? ? Once the regulation is over, housing prices will have to rise in retaliation.” Zhou Qicheng nodded: "Unfortunately, some people just don't understand such a simple truth." Wan Shunlong said: "Of course, the price of everything will go up and down, and in the long run, housing prices will also fall, but no one can tell the exact time point. Those who say that land is a scarce resource, use It’s a little bit less, so it’s nonsense that housing prices only go up but not down. Our land is limited, and the land in the United States and Japan is not an unlimited supply. But when the crisis comes, housing prices have not plummeted all the way. I firmly believe in market rules Yes, when housing prices are in a rising period, no matter how you adjust them, it will have little effect. When it enters a falling period, no one with great ability can protect the housing prices.” The dinner is coming to an end, and the pattern of joint support has been finalized.But Du Linxiang's anxiety did not ease at all. After all, he is different from others, and he has a towering skyscraper pressing on him.It can be said that because of the "Great Leap Forward" of skyscrapers, Du Linxiang's ability to resist risks is the weakest among all.The capital chain has been broken, and if there is no more living water, he won't last long.