Home prices surge in district of Zhuhai close to Hengqin development
Sales are buoyant in the Jinwan district, close to a proposed luxury holiday development
The proposed transformation of Hengqin, the largest of Zhuhai's 146 islands, into a high-end holiday destination has put the "City of Romance" back on the radar for investors.
Home prices in Zhuhai's Jinwan district are rising rapidly because of its proximity to Hengqin, say agents.
"Residential prices in Jinwan have risen by 10 to 15 per cent over the past year while prices in other districts have remained flat," said Zhang Mian, marketing manager at the Zhuhai branch of Hopefluent property agency.
Zhuhai is a prefecture-level city at the mouth of the Pearl River. Hengqin, now the target of a redevelopment scheme, is about three times the size of the adjacent Macau peninsula and Coloane island.
Over the past year, average home prices in the Jinwan district have increased from between 7,000 and 8,000 yuan (HK$8,850 to HK$10,100) per square metre to between 8,000 and 8,400 yuan per square metre, with asking prices in some high-quality new projects reaching 11,000 yuan per square metre, Zhang said.
"Sales of homes in Zhuhai started to become buoyant in March. The increase in sales activity was mainly driven by pent-up demand," she said.
Figures released by the local statistics bureau show that 1.59 million square metres of residential property changed hands in Zhuhai in the first six months of the year for a total 19.82 billion yuan - the best first-half performance in terms of sales volume and value since 2000 when Beijing rolled out a string of cooling measures to curb price rises.