Shanghai Home Prices Keep Rising Despite Tightening

Government curbs on speculation have cut Shanghai’s residential sale transactions in half but have failed to keep down prices.

In 2010 the average price for Shanghai’s apartments was 58,000 yuan ($9,100) per square meter (about $900 per square foot). By April it had soared to 66,000 yuan ($10,350) per square meter. The price rise was slowed by the new restrictions but not stopped. By September the average price per square meter was 67,000 yuan ($10,500).

Outside the central city, the limited supply of high-end homes in the suburbs kept their prices rising as well. However, the new restrictions have cut the total volume of residential transactions to just half of last year’s levels.

Initially restraints on property purchases had targeted more than 30 major cities. But the latest reports suggest the measures will be limited to just 50% to 60% of those cities, suggesting that the central government is concerned about killing off the real estate sector. As of now banks have tightened lending to buyers of apartments in just 14 of China’s major cities though authorities are said to be expanding the list of cities subject to more restrictions on homebuying.

The government appears to be tailoring new restrictions to keep the rise in home prices from exceeding the rate of per capita income growth.

Realty developers and construction companies are now required to apply for “home sale permits” before putting their apartments on the market. Some newly completed apartments in Shanghai remain off the market because authorities are holding up their sale permits.

The sale permit system has become the main tool of local governments to keep prices from overshooting the targets set by the central government.

Recently Shanghai authorities appear to be to holding up sales of luxury housing units while granting permits for the sale of lower-priced apartments in a bid to keep the overall average annual price increases steady.