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

Securities Times reporter Wu Jiaming

“Silver April” — the traditional peak sales season for the real-estate market — has long been regarded within the industry as the “critical period” for observing market direction. Especially just after the recently passed March, real-estate markets in first-tier cities have all delivered solid “report cards.” The market performance during the Qingming holiday is particularly noteworthy.

During the Qingming holiday, when the reporter conducted on-site investigations in the Shenzhen market, multiple newly built home sales managers and second-hand home brokerage managers all said that this year’s Qingming holiday real-estate market conditions are slightly better than last year. Demand that had been accumulating has continued to be released. Meanwhile, second-hand home communities near the border ports have become a key focus for buyers in Hong Kong.

“During the holiday, Shenzhen saw continuously cloudy and rainy weather, but the project still achieved good sales results. On the first day of the Qingming holiday, we sold 3 units. During the entire holiday, we sold more than 10 units. The overall situation is better than last year. The company is also preparing to gradually withdraw the discounts.” A marketing manager at a newly built home project near Guangyaju in Longgang District said, “The May Day holiday is even more of a critical ‘window period.’ We expect the overall market to continue recovering in the near term.”

Regarding the withdrawal of discounts for newly built home projects, several homebuyers interviewed believe this move is mostly project “marketing talk.” One homebuyer said, “We care more about the quality of the home and value for money. There are plenty of options for newly built homes in the market, so we won’t decide hastily just because of this discount.”

Industry insiders say that since last year, the “cutting prices to sell homes” behavior in Shenzhen’s newly built home market is no longer a common market phenomenon. It has been concentrated only among a small number of developers facing pressure on their capital chains. In addition, some developers in Shenzhen have shifted their strategy from “seeking volume rather than price” to “seeking volume while also seeking price.” Moreover, under normal circumstances, for newly built home prices to show a broad upward rebound trend, it would typically become visible only after transaction volumes have risen for two consecutive quarters. However, the overall transaction volume for Shenzhen’s newly built homes is clearly lower than that of second-hand homes.

According to data from Leju Jia’s research center, from April 1 to April 3, Shenzhen’s cumulative online signings for both pre-sale and existing-supply first-hand residential units reached 361 units, while second-hand residences totaled 685 units of online signings. Combined, the total has already exceeded 1,000 units. It is worth noting that second-hand homes in Shenzhen ignited the market first, becoming the core engine of this round of the “Little Solar Spring.”

A veteran real-estate broker who works with the Shenzhen High School district home segment in Luohu District told the reporter: “In the first few days before the Qingming holiday, a few homes were transacted in Jiali Hao Yuan and Jiahu Xindu. Transaction heat has indeed increased, but prices haven’t changed much for now; basically, they are on par with the end of last year.” The reporter also interviewed sales managers from real-estate brokerage firms in multiple sub-areas. They all believe that the current second-hand home market still relies on price support, and that “trading on price to drive volume” is the premise for transactions to pick up. “Now, homebuyers are very rational. They act only when the price is right, and owners understand this as well. Many people are willing to reduce prices moderately to facilitate transactions.”

At the same time, the heat in second-hand homes near the border ports is even more pronounced. Fu, who works in real-estate brokerage in Yumin Village next to the Luohu Port, told the reporter that the sales of that community’s second-hand listings have accelerated, even “topping” many institutions’ March second-hand home transaction volume rankings. Data from the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association also corroborates this: the transaction volume of Yumin Village ranked first in the city-wide list of second-hand residential record volumes for March.

“More than half of the customers I handle come from Hong Kong,” Fu analyzed. “The community is very close to the Luohu Port, the proportion of smaller and medium-sized units is high, and after several years of price adjustments downward, it currently has a very strong appeal to Hong Kong customers.”

(Editor-in-charge: Dong Pingping)

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