Home prices in Chinese cities fell, on the back of lower demand amid measures to curb soaring property prices, according to Xinhua.
The local news agency said that the number of home buyers is no longer declining, despite discounts offered by property developers, it said.
Li Ning, Market Manager of Mantanghong Real Estate Agency, said, “The high housing prices have prompted more residents to choose not to buy, although some offer a 10 percent discount.”
The limited appetites of home buyers are in bleak contrast with the belief that March and April is the peak period to sell homes.
Data from the Shenzhen Land and Resources Bureau reveal that the average housing prices for the first quarter have dropped to almost 19,000 yuan psm in March, from over 20,000 yuan psm in January.
Meanwhile, prices of resale homes in Shanghai and Shenzhen have slipped by three to five percent.
The difficulty of selling homes has forced owners to lower their prices.
“Currently, many real estate centres offer lots of discounts to customers. I’m afraid my house can’t be sold at such a high price, so I have decided to lower it 50,000 yuan,” according to Zhu, a second-hand home owner.
She added that the property’s original asking price was unclear to her.
The situation for developers is not as bleak in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in the east, as more than 60 percent of apartments in the area were sold by two property centres over the Qingming festival period.
However, this condition appears to be an exception to the rule in China’s housing market.