Beijing, Shanghai post strongest monthly home sales in five years

(ECNS) - Existing-home sales in China's largest cities remained resilient in May, with Beijing and Shanghai recording their strongest monthly May transaction volumes in five years, suggesting that recent policy easing is helping support housing demand despite continued weakness in the broader property market, according to media reports.

Shanghai's existing-home sales totaled 28,023 units in May, up 31% from a year earlier and the highest level for the month since 2022, according to data from the Shanghai Real Estate Trading Center. Sales in the same month stood at 300 units in 2022, 16,800 in 2023, 18,600 in 2024, and 21,400 in 2025.

Meanwhile, Beijing recorded 15,229 existing-home transactions in May, according to data from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, also marking its highest May level since at least 2022. Comparable May transactions stood at 8,600 in 2022, 12,982 in 2023, 13,383 in 2024 and 14,277 in 2025.

Activity was also strong in southern cities. Guangzhou recorded more than 10,000 existing-home transactions in May, up 19% from April and 31% from a year earlier, while Shenzhen's existing-home sales increased 21% year-on-year.

Data released by the China Index Academy on June 1 showed that transactions in 20 major cities exceeded 140,000 units in May, down 9% from April but up 19.3% from a year earlier.

Yan Yuejin, deputy director of the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute, said Shanghai's existing-home sales had remained above 28,000 units for three consecutive months, which since 2022 is a rather unusually sustained level.

Analysts attributed the strength partly to policy support, including lower mortgage costs, relaxed home-purchase restrictions, and tax incentives introduced over the past year.

However, Miao Meng, deputy general manager at CRIC Asset Management, cautioned that the recent surge in transactions does not necessarily mean that this will be a market turning point, noting that some demand may have been released in a concentrated period and future growth will depend on population inflows, economic development and other factors.

(By Zhang Jiahao)