Which old and small cities in China have experienced more severe price declines?

Back then, due to its excellent location in the city center and relatively affordable prices, the old yet small property became the first choice for many people with genuine needs and attracted numerous investors.

Even for a long time, there has been a saying that "the old and the poor are the lowlands of value." Time has changed, and today's real estate market as a whole has experienced cold weather, and the old and the young have gradually become a "hot pota

Nationwide, old houses with excessive premiums that are too old, have small areas, and are not worth living in are experiencing price reductions. The decline in prices of these old and dilapidated houses is not an occasional phenomenon in individual

Which old and broken-down houses have fallen the hardest across the country? How much have they dropped in price respectively? What kind of houses are falling in price? By comparison, in such an environment, what attributes should relatively resistan

01

How long have you not paid attention to the prices of old and broken houses in Shanghai? Personally, I feel that the prices of old and broken houses in Shanghai have somehow "dropped to the bottom" this year.

（Data source: Rabbit Doctor app）

The year with the harshest decline for old and small properties in Shanghai was 2024, with a yearly price drop exceeding 13%. To paint a full picture, starting from the second half of 2023, the decline spread from Pudong to Puxi, and from the inside

The areas of Tangqiao and Weifang near Lujiazui, as well as Huangxing Park, Neijiang First Village within the inner ring of Puxi, and the outer areas of Jinshan New City and Chongming Chenjia Town have all experienced different degrees of decline.

（Data source: Rabbit Doctor app）

The following is the ranking of the price decline of old and broken houses in various districts of Shanghai from 2020 to 2025. The differences in price decline among different districts are relatively obvious.

Garden in Minhang, a small one-bedroom unit sold for 117,000 yuan per square meter in 2020, but has dropped to 41,000 yuan per square meter in 2025, with a decrease of 64.7%.

Core areas or older, smaller properties with usage value advantages are relatively resistant to price declines. According to Shanghai Lianjia Research Institute data, in the first half of 2025, the transaction proportion of older, smaller properties

However, old and small houses in the outskirts are facing greater sales pressure, with larger price adjustments and slower digestion rates. After several years of deep correction, old and small houses in Shanghai, which were once overly sought after

02

When comparing Shanghai with other cities in China, the price drop of old and small properties in Shanghai is relatively mild.

In terms of first-tier cities, the areas with old and broken housing have seen a significant decline this year. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are following closely behind Shanghai. However, the decline in the three cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shangha

Among all first-tier cities, Beijing is one of those where the decrease in the price of old and small houses is not so evident, with a decline of about 10% lower than the three cities mentioned above. In cities at the same level (excluding Guangzhou)

Unexpectedly, the old and broken houses in the newly emerging cities are the worst hit by the price decline.

In the newly first-tier cities, Wuhan has experienced the largest price decline in second-hand houses with an age of over 20 years and a floor area of less than 50 square meters. The transaction price has fallen from nearly 20,000 yuan per square met

Compared to first-tier cities, the reasons for the price discounts of these young and second-tier cities' old and small houses are more complicated. Apart from the reasons like "multi-school districts", "teacher rotation", and the general sluggishnes

These newly emerging cities also share a common background characteristic: the gradual easing of the new housing price ceiling limit. According to incomplete statistics, at least 18 cities have cancelled or relaxed the new housing price cap policy si

Including the cities visited this year, such as Xi'an and Zhengzhou, local counterparts expressed that even without formal document issuance, the prices of new houses are now basically market-based. For example, in Xi'an where I went a while ago, the

When the new housing market fell into a downturn, real estate companies could decide on their own selling prices, and prices fell. The decline in the price of new homes has made the cost-effective advantage of the old and the poor even less obvious.

In first-tier cities, new housing prices are still inverted, especially in core areas, and the cost-effectiveness of old and broken housing still exists. Lastly, the most significant price declines are seen in second-tier cities and third-tier and fo

The most typical case in Langfang, Hebei is that the price of real estate in Yanjiao, a suburb of Beijing, becomes difficult to support after investors leave. This round of adjustment of old housing prices is essentially a systematic clearing of past

03

Across the country, the worst-hit old and broken-down properties share several commonalities.

First and foremost, it is the old and run-down school district houses, especially those that were once endowed with school districts and now are not, or the types where the benefits of school districts are weakening. The reason behind this is the cha

In Beijing's Haidian district, the Fengyuan Estate, known as the most prestigious school district property, has seen the transaction price per square meter of a 52u00b9 residential unit fall from a peak of 224,000 yuan per square meter to 108,000 yua

（Source: Internet）

Futian District, Shenzhen’s Class Eight dormitory area has a building age of about 40 years. In 2022, Shenzhen implemented the “University District” system, and the community was classified within a school district covering multiple elementary and mi

（Data source: Yiyeflyung-Fangjian）

（Data source: Yiyefly Cloud - Room Insight）

These are typical cases of value depreciation of old and small houses in school districts with pure investment attributes in recent years.

Old and poor areas with great difficulty in renovation and no expectation of relocation and demolition

According to a report released by China Real Estate Association in May 2025, there are about 186,000 old communities across the country, a large number of which have no definite demolition expectations or original demolition and construction. These b

Old and dilapidated buildings in high rises, especially if there's no elevator.

In southern cities like Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, the terrain is complex and land use is tight, resulting in many high-rise old residential buildings. For example, the ** residence in Yuzhong District of Chongqing, built in 1993 with a tota

（Data Source: Yiyefly Cloud - Fang Jian）

Old and poor housing estates are often lacking in property management, coupled with high-rise buildings with no elevators. In terms of living attributes, these types of housing are abandoned by the market earlier than six-story old and poor housing e

04

However, the “reversal” of old and broken-down houses is also taking place, for their prices match their values. Therefore, the cost-effectiveness and rent-to-sale ratio are simultaneously improving.

This year, the rent-to-price ratio of old and small houses in first-tier cities across the country has significantly increased. The internationally recognized reasonable rent-to-price ratio is 3-5%. China's real estate rent-to-price ratio has always

Secondly, the trading volume is slowly recovering.

According to Lianjia's first quarter of 2025, the volume of old and small transactions in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen increased by 12% year-on-year, which is in huge contrast to the dullness of the overall second-hand market. Among the

According to Rabbit Doctor app data, as of the end of October, approximately 24,500 second-hand houses in Shanghai have been sold, which accounts for about 85% of similar properties sold in the same period last year. With prices falling, the transact

05

Data tells us that cities are currently experiencing a significant reshuffle in values of older and inferior properties. Such houses have long surpassed the stage where you can buy them blindly. As the market returns to a rational cycle, living value

However, with prices gradually stabilizing and the rent-to-sale ratio rebounding, some older and smaller properties in certain cities are experiencing mild rebounds in transaction volume and rent-to-sale ratio due to their higher cost-effectiveness.

（Note: In this article, the “old and small” houses referred to by the Rabbit Doctor app and Yuye Feiyun-Fang Jian, are specifically those with a housing age of over 20 years and an area of less than 50㎡. The data statistics are from October 30th to O

This article comes from the WeChat official account Zhenjiao Lu Jun