Home sales and inquiries by potential buyers rose considerably in benchmark cities including Beijing and Shanghai during the National Day holiday from October 1 to 7, thanks to a number of optimization measures rolled out by the central government and first-tier cities. After announcing policies to free up restrictions on home purchases ahead of the weeklong holiday, China’s top-tier cities saw a market recovery during the holiday period, despite it being a conventional low season for home transactions, experts said. Some 59,000 square meters of new home space were traded across Shanghai in the first six days of October, doubling from that of last year’s 29,000 sq m, said Lu Wenxi, Market Analyst with Centaline Shanghai. In the secondary home market, 2,133 residential properties changed hands during the weeklong holiday, more than twice the 1,064 units registered during the same period last year, Lu said. The market recovery followed favorable local policies effective on the first day of October, such as the lowering of a threshold for non-local buyers, reduction in down payments for both first-time and second home purchases, and expanding VAT exemptions during home trading.
“There is an evident warm-up in market confidence as we see some 20% rise in business inquiries and visits,” said Ye Yongxiang of Sinyi Realty in Shanghai’s Xuhui district. Ye said it has been an extremely busy holiday season for himself as well as his colleagues, a sharp contrast from the same period during the past two years. “Being in the business for nearly a decade, I can really feel the vibes of the market on the rise,” Ye said. Beijing saw the new home transaction volume surge 730% during the first six days of the month from the same period last year, and its existing home market also experienced a gradual growth since the latter half of the holiday, with trade volumes rising 58% compared to last year. Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, saw more than 3,000 new homes traded at real estate brokerage platform Beike as of 2 pm on October 7, more than tripling from last year. As many as 384 pre-owned homes were sold daily in six key cities, soaring 117.6% year-on-year, according to the Linping Real Estate Data Research Institute.
“The market confidence index has been on an upward trend three weeks in a row, according to the weekly data collected in 50 cities, indicating that the supportive measures introduced one after another have boosted market confidence,” said Wang Xiaoqiang, Chief Analyst at the Institute, as reported by the China Daily.
