The property market in Shanghai saw some recovery in home buying sentiment over the New Year holiday, said Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd which witnessed a growing number of customer inquiries and more viewing appointments completed.

"Daily customer visits to Centaline branches jumped by more than 20 percent on average during the three-day period compared to late December while in some areas an even stronger momentum among home buyers had been perceived," Lu Hong, a marketing official at Shanghai Centaline, operator of the city's largest brokerage chain, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. "New policies introduced by the central and local governments did help boost market sentiment to some extent."

For instance, a Centaline branch in Zhabei District said customer visits to the store almost doubled during the holiday and about 20 viewing appointments could be completed daily, an encouraging sign for the local housing market which had been long plagued by sluggish sales.

Houses costing below 1 million yuan (US$146,000) as well as those mid to high-class properties priced between 2 million yuan and 2.5 million yuan seemed to be the most popular among buyers.

"Properties in those two categories accounted for more than 70 percent of total deals completed recently," said Lai Shufan, a district director with Shanghai Centaline which runs more than 150 outlets in the city.

Meanwhile, sales in the new home sector also rose significantly. On Sunday, the year's first working day, new home sales, excluding those designated for relocation uses, reached 494 units, or 54,686 square meters, across the city, a 100-percent jump from the daily average of 27,300 square meters last month, according to statistics released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.

Shanghai implemented a tax cut and favorable loan policies for second-time home buyers under a new package.

(Shanghai Daily January 6, 2009)