"Overall situation better than last year" Shenzhen's real estate demand continues to be released during the Qingming holiday

Securities Times reporter Wu Jiaming

As “Silver April,” the traditional peak season for residential property sales, has long been regarded by industry insiders as the “critical period” for observing market direction, especially the just-concluded March, when the property markets in first-tier cities delivered solid “results.” The market performance during the Qingming Festival holiday has drawn particular attention.

During the Qingming holiday, when the reporter conducted on-site investigations in the Shenzhen market, multiple new-home sales managers and second-hand home agency managers all said that this year’s real estate market conditions during the Qingming holiday were slightly better than last year. Demand accumulated in the market continued to be released. At the same time, second-hand home communities around the border crossing area have become the focus of Hong Kong buyers’ home-buying plans.

“During the holiday, Shenzhen kept having rainy weather, but the project still achieved good sales results. On the first day of the Qingming holiday, we sold three units, and more than 10 units were sold over the entire holiday. The overall situation is better than last year, and the company is also preparing to gradually withdraw the discounts.” Near Guangyeyuan in Longgang District, a marketing manager said, “The Labor Day holiday is even more of a crucial ‘window period.’ We expect the overall market to continue recovering recently.”

Regarding the plan to withdraw discounts for new-home projects, several homebuyers interviewed believe that this move is mostly the project’s “marketing talking points.” One homebuyer said, “We care more about the quality of the property and its value for money. There are quite a lot of options for new homes in the market. We won’t rush to decide just because of this discount.”

Industry insiders said that since last year, the “behavior of cutting prices to sell homes” in Shenzhen’s new-home market is no longer a widespread market phenomenon. It has been concentrated only among a few developers under pressure from cash-flow chains. In addition, some Shenzhen developers’ strategy has shifted from “seeking volume without seeking price” to “seeking volume while also seeking price.” Also, under normal circumstances, for new-home prices to show a broad upward rebound trend, it would only become apparent after the transaction volume has risen continuously for half a year, but Shenzhen’s overall new-home transaction volume is clearly not as high as that of second-hand homes.

According to data from the Lejujia Research Center, from April 1 to April 3, Shenzhen’s cumulative online contract signings for both pre-sales and existing listings for first-hand residential units totaled 361 units, while second-hand residential units totaled 685 units. Combined, the figure has already exceeded 1,000 units. It is worth noting that Shenzhen’s second-hand homes ignited the market first, becoming the core engine behind this round of the “minor spring season.”

A senior real estate agent from the Shenzhen Middle School district in Luohu District told the reporter: “In the first few days before the Qingming holiday, Jili Hao Yuan and Jiabu New Town had transactions for a few units of listings. The deal heat has indeed increased, but prices haven’t changed much for now; they are basically on par with the end of last year.” The reporter also interviewed sales managers at real estate agencies in multiple subdistricts, and they all believe that the current second-hand home market still relies on price support. “Using price cuts to stimulate volume” is a prerequisite for a rebound in trading activity. “Now homebuyers are very rational. They make a move when the price is right. Owners also understand this. Many people are willing to lower prices appropriately to facilitate transactions.”

At the same time, the heat for second-hand homes around the border crossing area is even more pronounced. Fu, who works as a real estate agent in Yumin Village near the Luohu border crossing, told the reporter that recently, the pace of sales for second-hand listings in this community has accelerated, even “topping” many institutions’ March rankings of second-hand home transaction volumes. Data from the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association also corroborates this: Yumin Village’s transaction volume ranked first citywide on the March second-hand residential listing volume leaderboard.

“More than half of the clients I’m connected to are from Hong Kong,” Fu analyzed. “Because the community is adjacent to the Luohu border crossing, and smaller and mid-sized units account for a high proportion, plus after several years of price adjustments downward, it now has strong appeal to Hong Kong clients.”

(Editor: Zhang Xiaobo)

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