APPS and websites catering to Shenzheners looking to rent apartments are affecting traditional real estate agencies, with one-third of young people using them in house hunting, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

    “In 2010, most people came to us to rent a place,” said an employee with Midland Realty, surnamed Tan. “One-third or more hunt for apartments online now.”

    A young woman who came to work in Shenzhen five years ago prefers looking for apartments online. She moves quite often when her job changes.

    “We need to pay the offline real estate agency one month’s rent for their service,” said the woman, surnamed Wu. “But we can contact landlords directly. If we check the ads online, there’s no service fee,” she said, adding that the online services also help people find roommates.

    Though helping cut out service fees, online services come with risks.

    Landlords may ask for inflated prices and rent to unsuspecting customers, yesterday’s Southern Metropolis Daily said, citing industry analysts.

    “A one-bedroom apartment in Golden Holiday residential estate in Futian is rented at 4,800 yuan (US$775) per month on one online platform,” said a realtor at Centaline Group, who gave only her surnamed Qiu. “But it’s only 4,000 yuan to 4,500 yuan at offline agencies.”

    It will be very difficult for an individual renter to verify if pictures of the homes posted on online rental platforms are true to the apartments, if the renter didn’t go check out the actual apartment with a realtor, Qiu said.

    Some other renters think dealing directly with landlords can be risky.

    “If a single woman is looking for a place to rent, it’ll be safer to visit the place with a realtor, said another female renter, surnamed Li. “It also reduces the possibility of a landlord … adding prices out of the blue.”

    Realtors say renters should be aware of current market prices, avoid visiting locations alone and only pay money after a contract has been signed. (Zhang Xiaoyi)