AS demand for rental apartments increased after the Spring Festival, the rents for apartments in Futian and Nanshan districts have been soaring, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

According to the report, the average rent of a two-bedroom apartment in the Zhuguang area, which is close to High-tech Park in Nanshan District, is above 4,500 yuan (US$709) per month, up 5 percent compared to a month ago.

Apartments in Zhuguang Village are even more sought-after, with the rents soaring by 10 to 25 percent. Almost all of the rental apartments in the village have already been leased.

“Many residential buildings in Baishizhou have been demolished for the renovation project. As a result, lots of tenants moved to Zhuguang Village,” said a landlord in the village. “The average rent of a two-bedroom apartment was 2,600 yuan per month before the Spring Festival, now the monthly rent is above 3,000 yuan.”

Xiasha is another area where the supply of rental apartments couldn’t meet the demand because of the renovation project in its neighboring Shangsha area. A resident, surnamed Huang, has lived in Xiasha since 2003. She said the average rent in Xiasha is especially high this year after many tenants moved to Xiasha from Shangsha.

According to Homelink Real Estate’s research institute in Shenzhen, a one-bedroom apartment is favored by many young white-collar workers who prefer living alone to sharing an apartment with others, which has driven up the rents of one-bedroom apartments in downtown areas.

The monthly rent of a one-bedroom apartment in Kaifeng Garden in the Meilin area was 3,366 yuan before the Spring Festival and it has soared by 9.3 percent to 3,800 yuan since the holiday.

The average rent of apartments in Futian District was 98.85 yuan per square meter per month in February, the highest among all districts. It was followed by Nanshan District, with an average rent of 96.58 yuan, and Luohu District, where the average rent was 78.77 yuan.

Xiao Xiaoping, head of Homelink Real Estate’s research institute in Shenzhen, said the fluctuation of rents is mainly influenced by the supply and demand of rental apartments in the market. Statistics from Midland Realty show that the rents in Shenzhen will continue to grow this month.

(Zhang Yang)