Residential realty builds on incipient recovery

The suppressed demand in February and March because of COVID-19 had been mostly negated in May and June; and the supporting measures announced in the first half of this year aimed to ease the difficulties of property developers, and are also in line with the principle of "housing is for living in, not for speculation", said Cheng.

Despite disparities between property markets in Chinese cities, stability will continue to be the key word for the home market in the second half of the year, said Ding Zuyu, CEO of E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings Ltd.

"Local governments will follow the central government's guideline to maintain a stable property market. On the other hand, although I have the feeling that home sales will see a 5-percent dip in terms of gross floor area, overall property sales revenue of the year will continue to be at a comparatively high level," said Ding.

Zhang Hongwei, chief analyst with Shanghai-based property consultancy Tospur, said the recovery in new home sales in top-tier cities is structural. He said he believes the trend is going to extend into the rest of the year.

"It's worth mentioning that the market performance is not yet regarded as overheated, especially in comparison with the conditions of 2009," said Zhang.

Agreed Sheng. According to her, restrictions on home purchases in first-tier cities have kept the price rise in a tight band. On an annual basis, new home prices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen edged up merely 0.6 percent, 2.8 percent and 3.9 percent between 2017 and 2019, much more stable than that in second-and third-tier cities.