The average new home price in Shenzhen reached record high of 26,691 yuan (US$4,305) per square meter in January, according to figures released by the city’s urban planning and land resources commission. The new home price increased by 22.7 percent over the same month last year and up 2.6 percent over the previous month. However, the transaction volume of new homes in January dropped 6 percent from December last year, marking the first decrease in six months. The Southern Metropolis Daily said, citing industry analysts, that the price hike was mainly because fewer housing estate projects were released for sale in the market. Many property developers slowed down their pace of releasing new projects as they were less pressured by their market performances at the beginning of a year. According to the Centaline Real Estate Agency, only seven new housing projects, with a total floor space of 382,000 square meters, were approved to be sold last month, down 47.6 percent from the previous month. Many developers also stopped offering discounts to homebuyers, some of them even raised the prices by up to 10 percent, the newspaper said. Shenzhen Daily |