China's real estate market in first-tier cities has shown more signs of warming thanks to the lifting of home purchase restrictions and the lowering of mortgage interest rates and down payment requirements.
Many real estate sales offices in the country have seen a considerable growth in the inquiries of housing projects amid stable home prices and improvements in market expectations.
The latest data shows that the real estate market in many parts of the country has continued to reverse the downturn and stabilize since the fourth quarter of last year, with a noticeable recovery in first-tier cities.
At a real estate sales office in Beijing's Haidian District, sales staff said that they adopted rotating shifts to ensure continuous operation during the Chinese New Year holiday.
"It is precisely because customers indeed have this demand the decision was made to stay open during the Chinese New Year. Approximately two to three dozen customer visits are received daily, and over 200 groups of potential buyers were received throughout the holiday period," said Yan Yu, marketing manager of a real estate project in Beijing.
At another new property sales office in Beijing, sales personnel said that the Spring Festival period is usually a slow season for sales. However, China's property market has seen more active trading in key cities since January this year.
"According to preliminary statistics, there are nearly 140 to 150 groups of visitors, excluding weekends and only considering weekdays. At present, many home buyers are still very enthusiastic about the houses for living condition upgrades," said Li Pengyu, a real estate agent.
Meanwhile, sales offices in other major cities during the Spring Festival season are also noticeably busier than in previous years.
In January, the sales area of newly built commercial housing in Guangzhou City of south China's Guangdong Province increased by 57 percent year-on-year. Also, Shanghai saw the transaction of 500,000 square meters in new homes, marking a 29 percent increase over the daily average of last January. In addition, the total transactions of both new and second-hand homes in Shenzhen City of south China's Guangdong Province are on the rise.
"During the Spring Festival period, the number of visits increased by around 20 percent compared with last year. The trading volume increased by approximately 14 percent. Recently, the majority of customers who purchased houses are local residents looking to upgrade their living conditions," said Wu Rong, sales manager of a real estate project in Shanghai.
"Throughout the Spring Festival period, there were quite a high number of visitors. There are no empty seats at the sales office every day," said Liu Qiuyi, sales director of a real estate project in Guangzhou.

China's property market in first-tier cities sees more signs of warming

China's property market in first-tier cities sees more signs of warming