A GROWING number of home-owners are withdrawing their properties from the market following the introduction of a new city regulation limiting purchases in Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.
It isn t a citywide phenomenon yet, but the number is indeed increasing, Xie Yugui, a regional director of Centaline Property in Luohu District, told the paper.
On Oct. 5 the city government introduced the regulation forbidding families with Shenzhen hukou which have owned two or more homes to buy more properties, while those without hukou can buy only one apartment.
Xie said one Centaline brokerage in Buji Subdistrict of Longgang District alone had encountered more than 10 home-owners who had withdrawn their apartments from sale in the past few days.
This was also reported by a number of other major housing brokers including Midland Realty, Shihua Real Estate and Zhonglian.
Properties are regarded as a good investment to guard against inflation, which has risen over the past few months.
What s least valuable now is cash! Let s keep our apartments, said one Internet user on a popular housing forum, identifying himself as Heban Guanlan.
The CPI in Shenzhen rose 3.8 percent in August over the same period last year, higher than the 2.25 percent bench mark one year time deposit.
The Daily said many home-owners were following suit. In one case, a homeowner of more than 10 apartments had withdrawn all of her properties from the market, according to Ye Juhui, a sales manager with Midland Realty in Shekou, Nanshan District.
Ye said she understood how homeowners felt. I helped a client sell a 110-square-meter apartment last month. They had planned to buy a bigger apartment by the end of this year, but couldn t under the new policy. The whole family now has to live in a small apartment, they are very upset.
The Daily said many home-owners are choosing to keep their properties out of a fear that the purchase limit will remain in place. It will get more and more difficult to buy new properties in the future, said one homeowner in Qianhai in Nanshan District, who asked not to be named. (SD News)
