Sales of pre-owned houses fall on ‘wait-and-see’ stance

Source: Xinhua | 2017-08-08

SHANGHAI’S housing market for non-new properties lost ground for the fourth consecutive month in July as a “wait-and-see” sentiment among home seekers continued to bite.

Around the city, some 11,700 units of pre-owned houses changed hands last month, down 4.2 percent from June and a year-on-year plunge of 65.3 percent, Shanghai Homelink Real Estate Agency Co said in a report released yesterday.

“It’s not surprise that weakness extended in the city’s pre-used housing market for another month as strictly enforced tightening measures remained effective while scorching heat also made the scenario worse,” said Lu Wenxi, senior analyst at Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co.

“We don’t expect to see any rebound until September at the earliest though only moderate recovery should be anticipated.”

Neither home buyers nor individual owners appeared eager to clinch a deal, with the latter offering a discount of between 3 percent and 5 percent, or a price cut of up to 7 to 8 percent in very few cases, according to Lu.