Second-hand home sales in China’s first-tier cities are picking up in March after a relatively “frozen” period amid government curbs on the property market.
In March, the volume of second-hand home transactions in Beijing expanded by 1.4 from a year ago to 16,051 units, the highest since May 2018, sina.com reported, citing official data.
The number in Shanghai was 2,5931 units, marking a year-on-year increase of 142%, a peak since October 2016. In Shenzhen, 4,551 second-hand units were sold, up 127.9% year on year.
Is the property market actually heating up again? An unnamed industry insider was quoted as saying that the rebound in transaction volume reflects the expectation that the government will loosen the curbs on the domestic property market.
Some cities, mostly lower-tier cities, have released policies in favour of qualified home buyers in recent months, while others are still strictly implementing property curbs.
But Ni Hong, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, stressed the government will continue implementing property market curbs and will keep policy consistence on the sector, the report said.
Industry insiders also expect the government’s policies on the property market to remain stable.