As local concerns rise about the capital's skyrocketing housing price, nearly 40 percent of real estate tycoons were forecasting it will grow another 20 percent this year at Beijing's biggest property fair that began on Thursday.
"The situation is crazy. Apartments near the East Fourth Ring Road that were priced at 20,000 yuan per sq m two weeks ago are now 28,000 yuan," said Jiang Zixin, 28, a Chaoyang district resident who was among the first group of visitors to flock to the 2010 Beijing Spring Real Estate Trade Fair.
Official figures show that not one of the 60 Beijing property projects at the fair was offering a discount.
As many as 84.5 percent of residents believe the current housing price is "unacceptable", according to a housing investigation released by the People's Bank of China.
However, most property tycoons feel the housing price will continue to climb. At the fair's key forum held yesterday morning, property tycoons with China's top real estate businesses claimed the housing price hike would continue.
Nearly 40 percent of developers predicted it would grow by 20 percent, with the remaining group shooting a little lower at between 5 and 15 percent.
"I think the housing price will increase by more than 20 percent by the end of the year," said Chen Zhihua, general manager with Beijing and Tianjin real estate development department of Greenland Group, listed second in China's property enterprises.
Chen said land within the Fifth Ring Road is scarce and large property enterprises will compete fiercely to snap it up.
"When this happens, the retail price also increases," said Chen, who forecast that Tongzhou, Daxing and Fangshan would become the capital's fastest growing suburban districts in the following months.
Ren Zhiqiang, president of Beijing Huayuan Group, said other factors were at play. He said the capital's housing prices would be partly pushed up by newly-weds, as Chinese traditional believes a family should own an apartment.
"According to data, it's expected that 200,000 couples will register to marry this year. The current housing market can't supply enough new flats," he said.
