SHENZHEN reportedly emerged as the country’s priciest real estate market according to monthly data for property prices in 100 major cities released by SouFun on Friday. Its average home prices shot up almost 40 percent in 2015, elevating the city over Beijing and Shanghai, China’s two largest cities.

    Analysts have indicated that Shenzhen’s surging population, attracted by jobs at Internet and finance companies headquartered in the area, have pushed property prices more than twice the national average.

    However, Andy Lee, the Shenzhen-based chief executive of Centaline Property Agency for Southern China, cautioned that Shenzhen’s rapidly growing property market may lose some momentum this year, forecasting price gains of around 5 to 10 percent.

    The city, dubbed “China’s Silicon Valley,” headquarters about 10 percent of all new startups in the country and is home to Chinese Internet giant Tencent and Dajiang Innovation Technology, one of the world’s largest drone manufacturers. Many foreign banks and leading financial institutions have also set up shops in Qianhai, a special zone in western Shenzhen.

    SouFun data indicates that Shenzhen technically overtook China’s two largest cities from June, holding its position at the top of the tables for six straight months. Shanghai was toppled from its pole position in 2014 to second place in 2015 and Beijing came in third.

    The Central Government loosened State regulations on housing and cut interest rates six times in 2015 to boost the housing market.

    Property prices in China — a closely watched barometer for economy — makes up around 15 percent of the China’s GDP.

    China’s new home prices increased in December for the fifth straight month. The average price of a new home in China’s 100 major cities rose 0.74 percent month on month in December to 10,980 yuan (US$1,686) per square meter, the China Index Academy said in a report, marking a pickup from November’s 0.46-percent rise. On a year-on-year basis, prices increased 4.15 percent.

    At a policy conference last month, the government pledged to encourage property developers to “moderately cut housing prices” and ordered local authorities to “revoke obsolete restrictive measures.” The academy said it expected policies generated by the conference to “effectively adjust market supply and demand and further ease pressure on inventory.”

    (SD-Agencies)

    (Read more on P2: Rent jumps 19 percent in 2015)