Beijing home sales surge in May

Beijing's property sales, including new and pre-owned homes, saw a strong rebound in the first half of May, statistics from real estate brokerage firm Century 21 showed on Wednesday.

According to Century 21, a total of more than 7,000 apartments were sold in the first 15 days of May, up 103 percent year-on-year. And the sales of pre-owned homes also jumped by 75 percent to more than 5,600 units.

"The property developers' strategy of cutting prices to stimulate sales worked. And the enthusiasm of potential home buyers was also lifted," said Su Ri, senior analyst from Century 21.

"We expect property sales for May will see a strong rebound, and maintaining a stable price is crucial for the market," Su added.

According to the China Index Academy, the research institute under the country's largest real estate website SouFun Holding Ltd, around 60 percent of cities it monitored saw a rebound in property sales last week on a year-to-year basis. Suzhou, Xiamen, Wenzhou, Lanzhou, Haikou also experienced a rebound of more than 100 percent.

Hu Jinghui, a senior real estate expert and vice-president of 5i5j Real Estate, said though the central bank's recent reserve requirement ratio cuts are not targeted at the property market, the eased liquidity will help first-home buyers to get mortgages easier and thus help to stimulate home sales.

huyuanyuan@chinadaily.com.cn