China's golden week holiday sees strong sales of homes in major cities

Sales of new homes in major mainland cities have registered strong sales during the "golden week" holiday, which ended on Monday, with Beijing recording the best sale performance in the past five years.

With the exception of Shenzhen, developers in most cities enjoyed brisk sales with higher transaction prices, according to Xinhuanet.com

For the six days ending on Sunday, the number of registered transactions in Beijing's primary market was 783, nearly 100 per cent up from the same period last year.

"It is the strongest sales response during the October golden holiday for the past five years," property agents said.

In Shanghai, about 1,500 units were reserved for the annual property trade fair which ran from last Thursday to Monday, while Guangzhou recorded an 8 per cent increase in sales volume during the holiday from a year ago with 716 units.

In contrast to other major cities, Shenzhen saw a fall in sales of new homes with just 212 units sold for the seven days to Monday, down 32 per cent from a year ago and 69.5 per cent less than the same period last month.

But prices in Shenzhen have surged to 18,894 yuan (HK$23,867) per square metre, up 63.9 per cent from a year ago, and 40 per cent from last month.

Agents attributed the hefty increase in prices for new homes in Shenzhen to a luxury housing project that was put on sale with an average price of 46,000 yuan per square metre.

Agents said the fall in Shenzhen's sales volume was due to the end of the annual autumn property trade fair. They said that the fair had previously given developers the opportunity to lure buyers with incentives.