Bargain hunters lift Beijing’s secondary home market to 7-month high in March, but Shenzhen, Shanghai hit by Covid-19 lockdowns
- Transactions of lived-in homes in China’s capital almost double to 15,771 in March from a month earlier
- Covid-19 lockdowns hit markets in Shenzhen and Shanghai, where deals slumped 75 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively
The secondary housing market in Beijing picked up in March on favourable government policies, but slumped in top-tier cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen because of lockdowns to contain Covid-19 outbreaks.
Transactions of lived-in homes in China’s capital rose to 15,771 last month, nearly double that in February. It was also the highest since last September when the nation’s US$1.7 trillion housing market started to unravel following a string of defaults by major developers.
“Big cities like Beijing have a constant inflow of people and the demand is always strong,” said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute. “Bargain hunters come out when they perceive the uncertainties surrounding the uncertainties to have gone.”
The housing market slowed down in Beijing last year mainly because of the sudden collapse in demand, Yan said.
About 1,200 lived-in homes changed hands in Shenzhen in March, a year-on-year decline of 75 per cent. The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of 17.5 million residents was placed under a weeklong lockdown in mid-March to bring a coronavirus outbreak under control.
Shanghai, meanwhile, saw transactions drop 32 per cent year on year to 13,000. China’s financial capital of 25 million residents has been placed under a phased lockdown from March 28, as an Omicron-fuelled outbreak has been spreading rapidly. The city reported a record 13,354 cases on Monday.