Improving transport, favourable policies may boost new home sales in mainland Chinese Greater Bay Area cities in 2024, Cushman says

The total number of new home transactions in the development zone will hit about 400,000 deals this year, the firm says

Although the volume of residential transactions is not likely to rebound significantly in the short term, ‘it is expected that entry barriers for potential buyers can be eased under the relaxation of regulatory measures’: Cushman executive

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Guangzhou and Shenzhen (above) have been rolling out favourable home purchase policies since late August. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 6:00am, 19 Jan 2024Updated: 6:04am, 19 Jan 2024

New home sales in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) might increase by 5 per cent this year compared with 2023, thanks to improving transport networks and the introduction of more favourable policies, international real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield said.

The total number of new home transactions will hit about 400,000 deals this year, the firm said on Thursday. The forecast comes as Guangzhou and Shenzhen – two of the biggest mainland Chinese GBA cities – have been rolling out a series of favourable home purchase policies since late August.

These measures range from reduced down-payment ratios for first-time homebuyers to extended benefits for more buyers. They are expected to help restore market confidence and drive up transaction volumes, thus helping residential property prices to stabilise in the first half of 2024, Cushman said.

“According to past experience, it usually takes some time for the market to digest and react to new policies,” said Alva To, Cushman’s vice-president and head of consulting for Greater China.

“Therefore, although the residential transaction volume will not likely rebound significantly in the short term, it is expected that entry barriers for potential buyers can be eased under the relaxation of regulatory measures.”

The market bottomed out in August and – despite a 6.2 per cent year-on-year drop for the whole of last year – has gradually been improving since, Cushman said. Home transactions rose 27 per cent in November when compared with August, for instance.