Guangzhou, Shenzhen land prices to soar
GUANGZHOU and Shenzhen property values were likely to surge by Lunar New Year because of new capital injected into the market after the recent relaxation over bank lending, said one mainland developer.
Ng Ting-chor, a director and general manager of Jingong Industrial, said a ''breakthrough'' in property prices was anticipated after a year of turbulent fluctuation in property prices.
''Between now and Chinese New Year, property prices for all sectors will be stabilised because investors leave town for their holidays,'' he said.
''But, on the other hand, a lot of developers have decided to push new projects on to the market now as they are confident that, after Chinese New Year [in February], the market will become buoyant again.'' Confidence was based on three main factors.
''The loose state control over bank lending after the 'macro-control' policy ended in November has led to an injection of new capital into China's property market,'' Mr Ng said.
''The effect will begin to appear after Chinese New Year. At the same time, construction on on-going property projects did not stop during the consolidation period and there will be a lot more ready-built properties available at higher prices than pre-sale properties.'' The second factor was that most low quality properties had been weeded out after the austerity programme last year to cool down the mainland economy.
''When the tightened policy came to an end in November, the market was left with property projects which had strong financial back-ups.
''Also, the central government now requires developers to complete at least 25 per cent of their projects before they push them on to the market for sale, so buyers are more confident in investing in completed property units,''he said.
The government had also established procedures to monitor the construction quality of units to boost investors' confidence, Mr Ng said.
The mainland property market still had to catch up with the pace of economic growth in the country.
''There is still a constant shortage in the commercial, residential, retail and industrial sector which means that property units are undervalued at present,'' he said.
In reviewing the development of China's property market last year, Mr Ng said all regions had a rough ride because of government intervention in cooling down the market.
''Since the central government imposed the macro-control policy, there has been a slight oversupply of residential units in individual regions,'' Mr Ng said.
''So, China's property market faced a short period of consolidation between March and April and there was an average drop in property prices of 10 to 15 per cent in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
''But, by September, the property prices climbed back to levels before consolidation and there is, until now, an aggregate increase in the average property price of five to 10 per cent this year.
This reflects the recovery of investors' confidence from the period of consolidation.''
