Property turnover slumps during Lunar New Year

Property turnover in China's largest cities experienced a downturn during the Lunar New Year period, as the migrant population went home for family reunions and developers halted new project promotions.

From Jan 31 to Feb 5, Guangzhou recorded only 48 home transactions while in the main urban districts, no transactions occurred. The total new home turnover fell 40.7 percent from the same period in the previous year, according to Netease, a Chinese news portal.

In Shanghai, home turnover during the Jan 30 to Feb 5 period fell to 105 units from 1,460 units a week earlier.

Turnover in Beijing during Spring Festival was not available but from Jan 27 to Feb 2, turnover fell to 150 units from 983 units a week earlier.

The data echoed an earlier finding that transactions cooled in January. Lunar New Year's Eve 2014 fell at the end of January, while last year's was in February.

According to data from Centaline, a home brokerage company, 54 key cities across China saw property transactions falling 11 percent over the January while year-on-year they were down 15.6 percent.

Analysts said the holiday, as well as cooling policies adopted in some cities at the end of 2013, caused the temporary downturn. They expected the property market to pick up momentum again as Spring Festival ends and the populace flows back to first-tier cities.