OFFICIAL data shows that Shenzhen’s housing prices saw their first decline this month since January last year, which is probably a result of the new property policies that were introduced by the city government Oct. 4 to tame the overheated real estate market, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Saturday.

    Shenzhen imposed tough home purchasing restrictions on the night of Oct. 4 to tame wild home prices and clamp down on property speculation that caused home prices to skyrocket over the past year.

    First-time homebuyers who have no mortgage records in Shenzhen are eligible to pay a minimum down payment of 30 percent. But the down payment for those who have mortgage records but no homes will be raised to no less than 50 percent and that for second-home purchases will be no less than 70 percent.

    Purchase restrictions were also tightened. People without a local hukou (household registration certificate) are allowed to buy only one house if they have paid five or more years of personal income tax or social insurance in the city. The earlier minimum requirement was three years.

    For those who have hukou, families continue to be banned from buying a third home and a single adult is banned from buying a second home.

    Data from the National Statistics Bureau show that increases in home prices in 15 major cities in China have slowed this month after a range of home purchasing restrictions were imposed on these cities earlier this month.

    According to the report, new home prices in Shenzhen dropped by 0.3 percent to 48,721 yuan (US$7,201) per square meter in the first half of this month, which is the first time that the city’s new home prices have declined over the past 22 months.

    Last month, new home prices in Shenzhen saw year-on-year growth of 34.5 percent and month-on-month growth of 1.9 percent, while pre-owned housing prices also soared by 1.8 percent compared to August and jumped by 28.8 percent compared to a year ago.

    According to the report, homebuyers in Shenzhen are becoming more willing to buy apartments larger than 144 square meters as their new homes, but they prefer pre-owned apartments smaller than 90 square meters.

    Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician with the National Statistics Bureau, said housing markets in first-tier and major second-tier cities have cooled down this month, with housing prices seeing slower growth and lower transaction volumes than in September. (Zhang Yang)