(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-11 15:58

As the Shenzhen government tightens control over the residential property market, analysts predicted housing prices to drop by as much as 30 percent at the end of the year, China Business Times reported.

In July, new housing prices in the city fell by 5.8 percent. A vice general manager of Zhongyuan Real Estate, a real estate broker, said the second-hand house market will be in a stagnant period until the end of the year because house holders are likely to lower prices only slightly and buyers keep their wallets tight. However, sellers will eventually give in to increasing pressure as supply rises and sell their houses at lower prices.

Special coverage: Housing in China

Related readings: Individual housing loans tightened nationwide More foreign capital flows in property sector Real estate investment surges 28.5% in 1st half Property prices up 7.1% in major cities

Moreover, a 20 percent tax on the cost difference between selling and buying is likely to begin in Shenzhen after August 1. The local government will decide the cost difference as it uses the evaluated sales price as a reference. This is likely to put an end to the 20-year-old false contract history of avoiding taxes, which has partly pushed up the city's property prices.

Statistics showed in July, Shenzhen's new house and second-hand house prices fell by 5.8 percent and 3.6 percent respectively from a month earlier. And the city's house sales volumes also decreased

Because supply of residential property increased drastically in July, the transaction rate of half of the city's new houses was less than 50%. Their average sales price was 13,757 yuan (US$1,819) per square meter, a 5.8 percent decline from last month.

The second-hand housing market also shrank by 50 percent in July.

Experts said concerns about stricter measures from the government and the fall of second-hand housing prices, in addition to the rising threshold of bank loans, are cooling down the Shenzhen real estate market.