China Second-Hand House Tax: What You Pay When You Buy a Resale Home

The sticker price of a Chinese resale apartment is rarely what leaves your account. On top of the agreed price sit four taxes and a couple of small filing fees, and which side of the table legally owes each one is not the same as who ends up writing the cheque. If you are a foreigner buying or selling a second-hand home in a Chinese city, the gap between "the price we shook hands on" and "the cash I need at closing" can be ten percent or more. This guide walks through every line, with the figures verified against the China Second-Hand House Tax Calculator.

The four taxes that move the closing cost

Every resale transaction breaks into four named taxes plus a small fixed transfer fee:

• Deed tax (契税) — paid by the buyer.
• Value-added tax and surcharges (增值税及附加) — legally the seller's, but economically passed to the buyer in price negotiation.
• Personal income tax (个人所得税) — paid by the seller on the transfer.
• Agency commission (中介费) — split by custom, but usually landing on the buyer in a hot market.

There is no national stamp duty on ordinary residential resales, which surprises people coming from Hong Kong or the UK. The weight is in the deed tax and VAT.

Deed tax is tiered by area and whether it is your first home

The deed tax rate depends on the built-up area of the unit and how many homes your family already owns. "Family" here means you plus your spouse plus any minor children, counted together for the whole city, not just the name on the new contract.

After the September 2024 Ministry of Finance reform (财政部公告 2024 年第 16 号), the brackets are:

• First home, ≤140㎡: 1%
• First home, >140㎡: 1.5%
• Second home, ≤140㎡: 1%
• Second home, >140㎡: 2%
• Third home and above: 3%

The reform retired the old 90㎡ split that ran 1% / 1.5% / 3%, so the first-versus-second penalty mostly disappears below 140㎡. Above 140㎡ it still bites. A buyer who personally owns nothing but whose spouse owns one apartment is treated as a second-home buyer, so pull the family housing record at the local 不动产登记中心 before you assume you qualify for the lower rate.

VAT is exempt once the home is over 2 years old

This is the single largest swing for the seller, and therefore for your negotiation. If the seller has held the unit for at least 2 full calendar years between the title-deed registration date and the new contract date, VAT is exempt in most cities. Held for less than 2 years, the seller owes 5% VAT plus surcharges, an effective 5.6% of the full price.

The four first-tier cities add a wrinkle. In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen the 2-year exemption only covers "ordinary" homes (普宅). A "non-ordinary" home (非普宅) over 144㎡ or above the local price threshold still pays 5.6% VAT, but only on the price differential rather than the full price, even after 2 years. For most expat purchases of normal-sized apartments, clearing the 2-year line wipes VAT out entirely.

Personal income tax: 满五唯一 can take it to zero

The seller's income tax is where the famous phrase 满五唯一 earns its keep. It means held for 5 full years AND it is the only home registered under the seller's family in that city. When both are true, personal income tax is exempt.

When they are not both true, the tax is calculated one of two ways:

• 20% of the gain — sale price minus original purchase price minus reasonable expenses (renovation invoices, loan interest), the strict statutory method.
• 1% of the gross price — the "approved levy" rate the tax bureau applies when the seller cannot produce the original deed or cost vouchers.

In practice most ordinary resales are taxed at 1%, because the 20%-on-gain figure usually works out higher and old purchase invoices are long lost. Note the trap: even one extra property registered to the seller's spouse or minor child breaks "唯一" and the exemption vanishes. On a ¥3 million resale, that exemption is worth roughly ¥30,000.

The small print: agency fee and transfer fee

Agency commission is not nationally regulated and runs roughly 1.5%–3% by city — about 3% in Beijing and Shenzhen, 2.7% in Shanghai, 2.5% in Guangzhou, and near 2% in second-tier cities. Custom splits it as 1% (or zero) on the seller and the rest on the buyer, but in a tight market the buyer often pays nearly all of it. Get the percentage and the split in writing before the deposit.

The transfer fees are tiny but real: ¥80 per certificate for the deed transfer, plus ¥80 each for a mortgage-release filing and a new mortgage registration. The calculator assumes a flat ¥240 when both buyer and seller have loans, ¥80 when neither does. Bring cash or a card — many district offices still do not take mobile payment for these.

A worked example

Say you verbally agree ¥3,200,000 for a 95㎡ Beijing apartment that the seller has held for 3 years (over 2, under 5), and it is your family's first home. Run it through the tool:

• Deed tax: ¥3,200,000 × 1% = ¥32,000
• VAT: ¥0 — the unit is over 2 years old and ordinary, so it is exempt
• Personal income tax: ¥3,200,000 × 1% = ¥32,000 (the seller has not hit 5 years, so 满五唯一 does not apply)
• Agency fee at 2.7%: ¥86,400
• Transfer fees: ¥240

That is ¥150,640 on top of the ¥3.2m price, or about 4.7% of gross. Now compare it to the seller's previous unit, held only 18 months: VAT alone would have added ¥179,200 and pushed the all-in cost past ¥329,000. The 2-year line is worth more than any haggling.

A note from my own closing

When I helped a colleague buy his first apartment in China, the number that nearly derailed the deal was not the price — it was discovering, three days before signing, that his wife's name was on a tiny inherited flat back in her hometown. That one entry flipped him from first-home to second-home and, because his target was 150㎡, doubled his deed tax rate from 1% to 2%. We caught it because we ran the family housing record first instead of trusting his memory. The lesson stuck: in China the tax follows the family registry, not the person standing at the counter, and the registry is almost always larger than people think.

Before you wire the deposit

These rules give you the national framework plus the four first-tier-city overrides, and they are accurate enough to anchor a negotiation. They are not the final tax bill. Local bureaus adjust the non-ordinary-home line, run temporary half-rate windows, and revise thresholds every year, so the real 完税单 can differ by 0.5%–1% of gross. Use the China Second-Hand House Tax Calculator to plan, then ask the 不动产登记中心 or 税务局 for the official pre-assessment before you commit. And once you know the all-in cash you need, size the loan realistically with the Mortgage Calculator so your monthly payment is not a second surprise.

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Made by Toolora · Updated 2026-06-13