Hot money pouring into Chinese luxury housing
June transactions for villas, and new apartments priced above 70,000 yuan per square meter, in Beijing hit new record highs
China’s luxury housing market continues to boom, despite government measures to slow it down, which has stimulated developers to bid even higher in big cities for prime plots of land, in an effort to target wealthy buyers.
June transactions for villas, and new apartments priced above 70,000 yuan per square meter, in Beijing hit new record highs, according to property consultancy Yahao.
In Shanghai, there were 682 transactions for new apartments priced around 100,000 yuan per sq m in the first half, already surpassing the number for the whole of last year, property services firm Tospur data shows.
“There is strong demand for this type of housing, as incomes grow,” said Huang Yu, executive vice president of the China Index Academy, a property research institute.
“Wealthier buyers are considering properties as safe investments, in anticipation of the yuan’s further devaluation.”
Cities including Shanghai and Shenzhen have rolled out stricter home-buying restrictions in the past few months, including raising minimum down payment requirements, in an attempt to cool sentiment.