RENTS in Shenzhen rose by an average of 13.5 percent after the Spring Festival compared with the same period last year.
According to a rental market report released by the government, average rent in Shenzhen increased by 4.5 percent compared with the period before the festival, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.
Rent in Futian District was the highest at 53 yuan (US$8) per square meter on average, an increase of 10.5 percent compared with the same period last year, while the average rent in Luohu was 46 yuan, up 12 percent, and 48.5 yuan in Nanshan, 15.5 percent more than last year. Rent in Bao an District was 31.5 yuan per square meter on average, up by 12.5 percent, while Longgang District rents were the cheapest at 26 yuan per square meter, 13 percent more than the same period last year.
The period after the Spring Festival holidays was the peak time for apartment rentals in Shenzhen because many people were returning to the city and new people were coming to look for work. All of them needed apartments, which resulted in the rent increase, experts from the city s rental housing management system said.
Meanwhile, many homebuyers were waiting to see how measures to curb housing prices were taking effect and this also helped push up rents.
Real estate agencies were another factor with many agencies persuading property owners to cancel existing contracts and rent the apartments again at a higher rate thereby pushing up their commission. They also told tenants there was strong demand for apartments and if they did not rent immediately, the best apartments could already be rented out.
As measures to control the housing market were tightened, agencies had to find another way to make money, so they turned to the rental market, an unidentified real estate agent in Futian District said.
Many agencies rent the apartments from owners and pay them a year s rent, then sublet them. This way, the higher the rent is, the more the agencies make, so they try to push rents up, the agent told the newspaper.
A new regulation on renting apartments which went into force Feb. 1 stipulates that apartments cannot be divided into separate rooms and then rented separately. Offending owners would face up to 30,000 yuan in fines.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
