Shenzhen reports strong home sales

Encouraged by policy stimulations, the real estate market in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, showed positive signals during the weeklong National Day holiday.

From Oct 1 to 7, a total of 1,841 new homes in the city were subscribed, marking a six-fold increase compared to the same period last year, a local newspaper reported citing data from the housing and construction bureau of Shenzhen.

Daily inquiries and transactions of pre-owned homes by leading real estate agencies also soared. For instance, the real estate agency Centaline Property received millions of daily visits to its websites and more than 5,000 inquiries on average during the seven days, with transaction volume of new and pre-owned homes surging more than 10 times and 270 percent, respectively, year-on-year.

Leyoujia, another realty agency, said its transaction volume of new houses rocketed by 10 times as well from Sept 30 to Oct 6. On Oct 6 alone, it sold more than 600 houses, which has been "rare" during the past three years.

"During the National Day holiday, I didn't take a day off because I've been busy showing properties to clients every day. I'm almost catching up to the total sales record I had made in the entire previous quarter," said a real estate agent surnamed Chen.

The real estate boom has been empowered by the relaxation of key policies that came into effect in Shenzhen on Oct 1. Purchase curbs in some districts were removed, allowing non-local homebuyers to enter the market, and the down payment ratio was also reduced.

Research by Leyoujia indicates that non-local customers accounted for about 20 percent of some projects in Bao'an and Longhua districts, where a Shenzhen household registration, or hukou, is no longer required to buy a house. In the boomtown, about 70 percent of its residents don't have a local hukou.

Moreover, potential buyers outside the city were also keen to jump on the bandwagon. Xiao Xiaoping, director of Beike Research Institute, a property information and analysis platform, said the number of inquiries from non-locals has rapidly increased. "Some are interested in investing in a property here, while others are looking to purchase a property for their children's future development in Shenzhen," Xiao said.

Midland Realty states its transaction volume of new homes surged tenfold year-on-year during the "Golden Week", and that of secondhand homes increased sixfold, both reaching a new high since 2019. Additionally, it also welcomed groups of clients from Hong Kong for property viewings in Shenzhen.

Jiang Xianliang, general manager of Midland Realty Property in Shenzhen, expected the market to further accelerate its return to normalcy, under the stimulation of a series of national policies.