It is being reported that new housing projects in first-tier cities enjoyed robust sales over the Labor Day holiday.
This is mainly due to previous government stimulus policies that continued to filter through to the market.
These included a down payment ratio as low as 30 percent for second-home purchases that was released on March 30.
Hu Jinghui is the vice president of 5i5j, real estate agency.
He attributes the robust sales to the March 30 policy.
"The policy is favorable to smaller home owners, and at the same time real estate agencies can be exempt from sales taxes for the first 5 years, which is further extended from the previous 2 years exemption. Plus, spring festival falls later, so at some point, it drives people who meant to make their purchase in March to buy in April."
According to the China Index Academy, first-tier cities posted a 31 percent surge in sales, second-tier cities rose 5 percent, while third-tier cities dropped 7 percent.
A total of 201 new homes were sold and registered with the Beijing housing authority during the two days, up 19 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
In Shenzhen, the number stood at 195 units, up four-fold from last year.
New projects in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen reportedly sold out within 24 hours of going on sale.
