Sales surge in Guangzhou's residential real estate

The residential real estate market in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, surged in sales volume in 2015 thanks to a series of government policies to support the market development, according to an industrial report.

The report, announced by global property service provider Colliers International, indicated that total sales of new commodity housing in Guangzhou's nine central districts increased by 34 percent year-on-year to approximately 7.79 million square meters in 2015.

According to the report, the pickup in sales volume was mainly attributed to government preferential policies, though developers were still cautious in their pricing strategies.

At the national level, the People's Bank of China cut the one-year benchmark deposit rate in last March, May, June, August and October, which in return lowered the benchmark mortgage rate.

Locally, the Guangzhou authority lowered the down payment for mortgages using the housing provident fund in last June and announced a series of policies easing the application process and allowing more borrowing from the housing fund.

In contrast to the increased sales volume, the average sales price decreased by 1.5 percent year-on-year to 17,235 yuan ($2,613) per sq m, following developers' cautious pricing strategies in new projects, according to the report.