THE average price of new apartments in Shenzhen has remained at around 55,000 yuan (US$7,975) per square meter for 15 weeks, while some property developers have lowered their prices to promote sales, according to sznews.com.

    A residential estate in Longgang District recently put 20 small apartments up for sale, with the price of a 39-square-meter apartment at 29,888 yuan per square meter.

    Another estate in Longgang District launched 10 low-priced apartments, including an 89-square-meter apartment that was priced at 3.28 million yuan, or 36,900 yuan per square meter. The price was much lower than the average price of other apartments in the estate, which was over 40,000 yuan per square meter.

    According to the report, many property developers have lowered their asking prices by 5 to 10 percent. Some speculators have also lowered their prices for pre-owned apartments by 10 to 20 percent, due to wanting to cash out of the real estate market as soon as possible.

    One 105-square-meter apartment has been listed for sale since the end of last year but remains unsold even after the homeowner lowered the price twice, according to a realty agency.

    A real estate expert said that although housing prices can reflect a city’s competitiveness, excessively fast-growing housing prices may weaken the city’s competitiveness. Under the influence of new property policies launched by the city government in October last year, buyers and sellers of homes in Shenzhen’s real estate market are becoming more rational, the expert said. (Zhang Yang)