Beijing property market still slow

23-06-2008
Beijing's property market has been in a period of stagnation since the end of last year, with many buyers taking a wait-and-see attitude. Anxious developers have been quick to react, launching promotions and discounts to fire up the market.
Close to the subway at Beijing's South Third-Ring Road, several housing projects have gone on the market in the last few months. And this project features especially eye-catching promotions. Buying a single bedroom apartment comes with a free gift, a new car worth up to 110 thousand yuan. While buyers lucky enough to come up with the entire payment can get a ten percent discount.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Homelink Properties shows that nearly 80 out of 100 projects currently for sale are offering discounts. Many new projects have set their prices lower than others in the neighborhood, with some going even lower than price-tags for second-hand properties. The old projects, struggling with sluggish sales are coming up with other strategies such as offering free cars or waiving administration fees.

Some promotions have managed to catch the attention of consumers. But actual transaction volumes remain unimpressive. A new project at Liuliqiao is selling for 15 thousand yuan per square meter. Many visitors have showed up after sales started last weekend. While a notice board on the wall shows how many apartments have already been sold.

But what is the real transaction volume? The Beijing property transaction administration website which records all transactions suggests that only around ten apartments of this project have actually sold out.

Statistics show that Beijing's property market is still suffering from sluggish demand. From January to May, a total of 2.6 million square meters were sold. That is 48 percent lower compared to the same period last year. The property prospect figure for May is only 103, lower than the previous month, and marking a fall for six consecutive months.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• china