China’s property stimulus bazooka fuels instant rebound in sentiment as inquiries, home sales in Shanghai, Beijing jump
- ‘The overall volume of inquiries has increased noticeably since the new support measures came out last Friday,’ says property sales agent Ma Yunman
- Shanghai recorded 138,000 square metres of sales in the May 19 week, or 30 per cent above the city’s weekly average this year: CRIC data
Ma Yunman, a sales agent at 5i5j Real Estate Brokerage based in Beijing’s suburban Fangshan district, said some 100 people visited its regional showrooms to view projects and consider purchases last weekend. This marks a 20 per cent increase from the usual traffic on Saturdays and Sundays, she said.
“The overall volume of inquiries has increased noticeably since the new support measures came out last Friday,” Ma said in an interview. “This is helped by the fact that prices for both new and pre-owned homes in our area have declined by 20 to 30 per cent from last year.”
China unveiled “historic” measures on Friday, including a 300 billion yuan (US$41.9 billion) relending facility for state-owned companies to buy unsold homes, to help stem a chronic slump in demand and confidence in the housing market over the past three years.
Beijing has also called on local governments to buy finished projects and convert them into social housing, and offered to lower mortgage rates and down payment ratios to revive demand. Earlier sporadic measures among various city housing bureaus had failed to spur a turnaround, leaving many of the biggest developers in financial distress.
The rebound has been instant. More than 2,000 units were transacted on the May 18 weekend in Beijing, according to data compiled by Centaline Property. The volume was on par with the daily average in March and April, which are seasonally “hot” months due to the release of pent-up demand from the Lunar New Year holiday.
