Martin Li martin.mouse@163.com THE weekly sales of pre-owned homes in Shenzhen had seen an increase of almost 80 percent since the control measures were announced, according to Sunday’s report by Shenzhen Economic Daily. A total of 597 pre-owned homes were sold in Shenzhen on March 4, the first working day after the Central Government issued the new control measures, including the 20-percent tax on gains from home sale, according to the statistics of the city’s land and planning commission. Each day since March 4 had seen more than 500 pre-owned homes sold in the city as of the weekend. However, the growth in transactions was not accompanied by a decrease in the prices of pre-owned homes. A pre-owned apartment smaller than 66 square meters sells for about 1.7 million yuan (US$268,000) on Fuqiang Road near Futian Checkpoint. “The apartment seller is adamant about the price and offers a slim chance for further reduction,” said a housing broker surnamed Gong. Gong said some sellers and buyers of pre-owned homes have been pushed by the new policy to complete their transaction hastily. A company employee, Zhang, last week paid almost 2 million yuan to buy a pre-owned apartment of less than 70 square meters in Nanshan District. It only took two days for Zhang to decide on the purchase. “I’m afraid that I will pay more when the tax hike takes effect,” Zhang said. About 200,000 yuan of the 2 million Zhang paid goes to various taxes concerning the home transaction. The local industry has predicted a further growth in transactions and prices of pre-owned homes to remain stable for the next month. |