Homebuyers cautious of taking the plunge
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-28 08:42
Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on the development of
China's property market. The story was written by Cao Li in Shanghai, Liu Jie in
Beijing, Chen Hong in Shenzhen and Zhan Lisheng in Guangzhou.
Government
measures to cool off the overheated property market have prompted prospective
buyers across the country to postpone purchases, depressing prices in Shanghai
and slowing down price increases elsewhere.
In Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Shenzhen, house-hunters say they are holding off taking the plunge
because they expect prices to continue to fall in the near future.
And it is
this approach, already reflected in the drop in sales in nearly all the major
cities, that will ultimately decide the true impact of government measures and
the development of the property market.
Shanghai
In Shanghai,
sales of new apartments in June dropped by half from a month earlier and prices
in the first six months fell an average 6 per cent from the same period last
year.
Property agents from Beijing to Shenzhen have been bemoaning the
loss of business, and it's only a matter of time before sellers cut prices as
their counterparts in Shanghai have, property agents say.
That's exactly
what Yao Lan, a 28-year-old journalist in Shanghai, has been waiting for. She
and her husband have been looking for a bigger apartment since the birth of
their daughter earlier this year. Like many Shanghai households, both husband
and wife have to work to support the family. Childcare, therefore, is entrusted
to the baby's grandmother, who will have to move in, increasing the household to
four.
"The one-bedroom apartment we have now is obviously too small for
the four of us," Yao said. For the Yaos, looking for an apartment with an easy
commute to the central business district in Puxi where they work has been a
frustrating experience. They soon found that apartments that fit their
requirements in size and location were way out of their budget. "If we had taken
the plunge, the monthly mortgage repayments would have been extremely tight,"
Yao recalled. "We wouldn't have had any money left to spend on anything other
than the essentials."
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