Cracks in Shenzhen home prices emerge in reaction to mysterious shaking of SEG skyscraper

Some apartment listings within 15 minutes’ walk of SEG Plaza are quoting about 7 per cent lower than their previous asking levels

A drop in prices of homes, shops, offices and land bank is inevitable, an E-House official says

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People walk past the temporarily closed SEG Plaza in Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province on May 24, a week after it began to shake unexpectedly, triggering widespread panic. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:30am, 29 May 2021Updated: 1:15pm, 1 Jun 2021

Some owners of apartments located near the SEG Plaza in Shenzhen have trimmed their asking prices just days after the 72-storey tower began to sway and sent thousands fleeing from the location.

A two-bedroom commercial apartment within 10 minutes’ walk from the skyscraper was priced at 4.18 million yuan (US$655,850) or 67,400 yuan per square metre on May 24, according to a listing on major property portal Anjuke. That is about 7 per cent below a similar-sized unit in the same estate on May 11.

In another residential estate located about 15 minutes away from the tower, an apartment was listed at 2.1 million yuan on May 27, or 6.7 per cent lower than its initial quote in March, according to data on the portal.

The price discounting reflects knee-jerk reactions to the mysterious wobbling of the tower on May 18, prompting an emergency evacuation. Several episodes of trembling have followed, prompting a total shutdown and an official probe into its safety conditions. No official explanation has been given for the shaking.

“The wobble is quite scary and casts questions over the quality of the property,” said Yan Yuejin of the E-house China Research and Development Institute. “The uncertainties would definitely have a negative impact on the property and those in its vicinity. A drop in prices of homes, shops, even land bank is inevitable.”

Completed in 2000 at a height of 291.6-metre (957 feet), the SEG Plaza is ranked as the 18th tallest in Shenzhen and 104th nationwide, according to the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats. The 115-storey Ping An Finance Centre, the world’s fourth-highest at 599.1 metres, is the highest in Shenzhen.