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Real estate firms say boom to continue

REAL estate brokerage firms are remaining upbeat about Shanghai's second-hand home market and expected the current sales boom to last for another few months.

"Market performance over the past month was beyond our expectations and demand for homes may probably continue to be strong through the end of this quarter," Flora Wang, director of research at Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd, said at an annual real estate fair which opened yesterday in Shanghai.

"As for the second half, it's a bit hard to predict now because that will depend highly on the country's macroeconomic condition."

Centaline, the city's largest realty chain that completed transactions for about 2,000 units of used homes across the city last month, has brought about 2,600 units of second-hand houses to the fair, compared to some 2,400 units introduced last year, the company said.

The city's major real estate brokerage firms, including Centaline, Hanyu Property, E-house, Hope Real Properties and Sinyi Realty Estate, have brought selected apartments - most priced below 2 million yuan (US$290,000) a unit, to the three-day fair, according to Real Estate Times, one of the event's organizers.

"The second-hand home market has been recently dominated by end-users," said Chen Yong, a property consultant at a Sinyi branch in southwestern Changning District. "In my own case, four out of 10 clients I received over the past month were couples about to get married."

Rising demand due to lower prices helped push the city's second-hand transaction volume to a record 25,700 units last month, the highest since 2006. Pudong New Area, Minhang District and Baoshan District topped the list, with about 380,000, 310,000 and 180,000 square meters used houses sold respectively, according to the latest Century 21 China Real Estate research.

Unlike a year ago when most people had a wait-and-see attitude, more seemed to be ready for a deal now. "Homes have become more affordable to me as compared to a year ago," said one visitor to the fair, Raymond Chen. "I will seriously consider buying if high-quality properties are available."




 

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