Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei, lays claim to being the hottest of the three 'furnaces' responsible for the mainland's high summer temperatures.
Last month, the city lived up to its reputation, both in its contribution to the national temperature and in the 'heat' generated by its property market.
Residential property deals done in the city last month soared to a total of 600,000 square metres, up 50 per cent from 400,000 sq metres sold in February and an increase of 161 per cent from January. The March sales were on par with monthly averages recorded in the build-up to the boom times in the sector in 2006 and approached the peak of 670,000 sq metres in 2007, data from property consultant DTZ showed.
The March figures confirmed a rising trend for Wuhan in the first three months of the year, said Alan Chiang Sheung-lai, the head of residential property at DTZ's mainland division. First-quarter sales of commodity residential housing averaged 410,000 sq metres a month, up 32 per cent from last year's monthly average of 310,000 sq metres.
Terence Yip Wing-keung, a general manager at Centaline (China) Property Consultant's Hebei branch, attributed the robust sales to price cuts introduced after the Lunar New Year and the relaxation of home loan terms which helped release end-user demand.
Developers cut asking prices by an average of 15 to 20 per cent in the first quarter, said Mr Yip.
At some projects such as phase one of Wuhan Silo City, a residential project still in development, prices were cut by as much as 25 per cent to 2,688 yuan (HK$3,052) per square metre. The media reported that the cuts helped the developer attract buyers for more than 800 units in March alone.
