HOME sales in China have been dealt a huge blow by the spreading coronavirus, with figures showing transactions plunged in the first week of February.

New apartment sales dropped 90 percent from the same period of 2019, according to preliminary data on 36 cities compiled by China Merchants Securities Co. Sales of existing homes plummeted 91 percent in eight cities where data are available.

“The sector is bracing for a worse impact than the 2003 SARS pandemic,” said Bai Yanjun, an analyst at property consulting firm China Index Holdings Ltd. “In 2003, the home market was on a cyclical rise. Now, it’s already reeling from an adjustment.”

China’s property market was already going through a rough patch amid prolonged home-buying curbs, stricter mortgage requirements and cooler buyer sentiment.

While many manufacturing, financial and retail companies got back to work this week, property developers remain largely closed for business. While people can still buy an apartment online, showrooms across more than 100 cities are shut to minimize human-to-human contact.

Shenzhen banned home sales in every possible form for as long as city authorities have the alert level set at the highest response. Zhengzhou, a metropolis on the Yellow River in central Henan Province, has restricted all property construction until mid-March.

In Beijing, fewer than four units a day were sold last week, according to E-House China Enterprise Holdings Ltd.’s research institute. Usually, transactions number in the hundreds.

Even if such rules weren’t in place, there may not be many buyers anyway. Most cities have severely restricted the entrance and exit of people to limit the spread of the virus.

Demand may start picking up again in April, assuming the outbreak is largely under control by that point, China International Capital Corp. analyst Eric Zhang said.

(SD-Agencies)