Housing market Photo:VCG

Real estate markets in China's first-tier cities are picking up following optimized policies nearly one month after their introduction. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province are showing signs of recovery as the effects of newly implemented policies become increasingly evident.

On September 29, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen announced measures to boost their local property markets, with Beijing following the next day.

From October 1 to 26, data tracked by a research institute under Centaline Property revealed that actual transactions of secondhand residential properties in Beijing surpassed 21,000 units, up 150 percent year-on-year.

Centaline Property estimated that actual market transactions for secondhand homes in Beijing for the entire month of October could reach 25,000, which would be the highest for the month since 2017.

Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property research institute, told the Global Times on Monday that the volume of real estate transactions in Beijing during the first 26 days of October was the highest for that timeframe in recent years. 

"Housing prices have been stabilized, with some areas witnessing a rise in secondhand home prices for the first time in two years," Zhang said.

In Shanghai, data collected by 58 Anjuke Institute showed that as of Saturday, secondhand home transactions so far in October surpassed 20,000, marking the fourth month this year to exceed that threshold after March, June and July.

"It shows that Shanghai's real estate market is gradually recovering, and buyers are adopting a positive attitude. As market confidence strengthens, the secondhand housing market in Shanghai will maintain a high level of trading activity in the upcoming period," according to a research report sent by 58 Anjuke Institute to the Global Times on Monday.

Shenzhen's property market also surged. From October 1 to 26, there were 10,030 new residential property sales contracts, covering a total area of 1.0293 million square meters. Average daily sales stood at about 390 units, or nearly 40,000 square meters, a significant peak in Shenzhen's housing transactions in recent years, according to the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. 

From October 1 to 21, Guangzhou recorded a total of 7,680 new residential properties under contract, a 48.7 percent increase compared with September, Guangzhou Daily reported, citing official data.

"Regulated by a series of policies, China's real estate market has started bottoming out after three years of adjustment," Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong told a press conference on October 17.