Home sales in Hangzhou surge to new high

HANGZHOU - October's housing sales in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou surged to a five-year high in terms of units following a spate of measures to boost the market.

A total of 12,832 new apartments were sold last month in the capital of Zhejiang province, the highest since July 2009, said the city's housing security and management bureau, adding that the sales represented a robust 34.9 percent growth from September.

Sales in August and September recovered after the city moved to lift residential purchase restrictions, which capped home ownership at two properties.

Late last month, China eased mortgage rules amid the latest efforts to revive the gloomy property market. Earlier, dozens of major cities nationwide lifted residential purchase limits.

The strong sales drove down housing inventories by 1.5 percent in the city, the first decline in eight months, data shows. But the inventories were still large at 139,989 units by the end of October.

September and October are usually golden periods for housing sales.

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