Forget the economic woes for the time being - real-estate prices in Shenzhen, especially in the luxury sector, have continued to go through the roof, further shattering the dreams of those fighting to own an apartment but have been priced out of the market.

And, experts predict it is only a matter of time before luxury homes prices in Shenzhen are on par with those in Beijing and Shanghai.

Apartments at two luxury residential projects - China Resources Land's Top Mansion in the upmarket Nanshan district and China Overseas Property's Paragon in Luohu - went for average prices of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,419) per square meter as sales began last weekend.

The prices were almost double those of other residential properties in the two districts.

According to Shenzhen Economic Daily, one unit at Top Mansion commanded 200,000 yuan per square meter, while another apartment - a 687-square-meter top-floor loft - was sold for a whopping 137 million yuan.

The skyrocketing prices, however, were no deterrent for cash-happy buyers queuing up for top-grade homes.

One purchaser surnamed Huang, who was among some 100 homes seekers, told China Daily she had been queuing up since 8:00 am last Saturday when sales opened.

She bought two units at the Paragon of 120 square meters each - one for herself and the other for her daughter who's tying the knot next year.

Deng Zhongshu, a salesperson at Centaline Property, said there were only about a dozen units left at the Paragon by Monday, costing between 11.5 million yuan and 20 million yuan each.

Industry experts said one of the key factors behind the homes craze is that current prices are still deemed "reasonable".

Song Ding, a senior researcher of the Tourism and Real Estate Industry Research Centre at Shenzhen-based think tank China Development Institute, believes that developers have been rationale amid the continued boom in the mainland's property market.

Wang Fei, director of the Centaline Property Research Center in Shenzhen, reckoned that, compared to other first-tier cities on the mainland, Shenzhen's luxury-homes market still has vast potential for increases in both pricing and quantity.

According to Centaline data, in the first 11 months of this year, only one of the country's top 10 luxury homes projects in terms of average prices was in Shenzhen. But, Shenzhen's luxury property market beat Beijing and Shanghai in terms of trading volume. Indications are that most of the purchasers of apartments at Top Mansion and the Paragon bought them for their own use rather than for investment or speculation.

Centaline figures also show that more than 88 percent of those who have bought luxury flats worth more than 20 million yuan in Shenzhen are Guangdong residents with a hukou, and 80 percent of them are Shenzhen citizens. Only 8.4 percent are from other mainland cities and 3.2 percent are from Hong Kong.

grace@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/30/2015 page8)