Shanghai homebuyers looking to capitalise on eased credit policies have to act fast amid expectations of price rise

Eased credit has prompted potential homebuyers to actively chase flats, property agent says

Average price of secondary homes sold last month was 0.5 per cent higher than in January, and 8.5 per cent higher year on year

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The Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai. More than 12,000 secondary home transactions have been conducted in China’s financial capital since December last year, signalling a bullish mood, an analyst says. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 12:00pm, 7 Mar 2022Updated: 12:13pm, 7 Mar 2022

Shanghai residents eager to own flats in the city must move quickly as banks loosen credit, because of expected price rises.

Zhang Hua, a 40-year-old engineer with a research institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, for instance, said he must land a deal soon, because the pre-owned home market in mainland China’s commercial and financial capital was showing signs of a strong recovery.

“The banks are extending more mortgage loans to homebuyers, and pent-up demand will release soon,” he said. “An increasing number of transactions will result in rising home prices.”

Banks have of late ditched tightening measures introduced mid-2021 by Beijing to cool down an overheated property market. Last year, to curb demand they had, for example, slowed loan approval processes, taking as long as 50 days to sign off on mortgages, according to a study by the Beike Research Institute, which surveyed the average waiting time across 72 major Chinese cities in June.

However, the slow growth in mortgages since the middle of last year adversely affected local banks’ performance. Two officials with Shanghai-based lenders said that commercial lenders were now under pressure to accelerate mortgage lending.

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