June Chen
Secondary home sales in Shenzhen jumped by 35.2 percent year on year to 4,871 units in May, according to the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association.
However, it decreased by 1.4 percent compared to last month.
The association said the main reason for the decline was May Day holiday travel. Excluding the holiday factor, the daily average volume from May 6 to 31 increased by 10 percent compared with April.
Since late April, Shenzhen has launched several new policies to encourage home purchases, including loosening home-buying restrictions, reducing down payments for first flats to 20 percent and lowering the mortgage interest rate.
In May, China's State Council introduced a series of policy tools to stimulate the market, including a sharp reduction for down-payment requirements, lowering the interest rate of provident fund loan, and abolishing interest rate restrictions on commercial loans.
Affordable housing re-loans worth 300 billion yuan (HK$323.87 billion) will be designated to support state-owned enterprises in purchasing completed and unsold commercial houses and using them as affordable housing.
Chinese developer shares rose after mainland home prices were estimated to remain stable for as long as nine months amid signs of improvements.
China Vanke (2202) jumped 7 percent after its sales slump evened out in May. CR Land (1109) climbed 4 percent.
Citigroup forecasts home prices to stabilize in six to nine months, as a soft landing is forming amid the new stimuli rolled out by Chinese governments. The bank report released yesterday said that although total inventory is still high, the new supply is decreasing in the market.
Shenzhen has rolled out several measures to boost property sales. Sing Tao
