(Yicai) Feb. 26 -- Shenzhen and Guangzhou are seeing a strong rebound in their real estate markets as supportive measures rolled out by the two biggest cities in southern China earlier this year take effect and thanks to lower mortgage rates.

Shenzhen’s sales of pre-owned homes surged more than two-and-a-half-times during the four days from Feb. 18 to Feb. 21, the first four working days after the eight-day Lunar New Year break, from the same period last year to hit a five-year high.

During these four days, Shenzhen’s sales of second-hand apartments soared 87.1 percent from the same period in 2019, according to data from the Shenzhen branch of Beike Research Institute, the research arm of China’s biggest realtor Ke Holdings.

Shenzhen eased its housing curbs earlier this month before the Lunar New Year holiday started on Feb. 10. Those who obtain household registration in the city, otherwise known as hukou, can buy a property immediately and no longer need to pay personal income tax and social insurance contributions for years.

And those who do not have a Shenzhen hukou need only to pay three years’ worth of social security premiums in order to buy a property as opposed to the previous five years. On top of this, the benchmark five-year loan prime rate, to which mortgages are tied, was slashed 25 basis points on Feb. 20.

Recent policies are having more of an effect than previous ones, a realtor in the hi-tech hub told Yicai. Both the number of people wanting to view apartments and the sales volume have increased at the realtor’s agency.

Should this trend continue, sales of pre-owned apartments in Shenzhen may top 5,000 units next month to hit a two-year high, said He Ling, head of marketing at real estate agency Leyoujia.

Guangzhou also started to loosen real estate restrictions last year, waiving curbs on properties in the outskirts of the city. In January, large homes with an area of more than 120 square meters were also exempt from purchase restrictions. But sales volumes have yet to show a notable increase as the new policies were announced just before the Spring Festival break.

However, viewings are on the increase, jumping 78 percent on Feb. 18 from the daily average in January, according to Beike figures. On Feb. 20, 61 pre-owned apartments changed hands in Guangzhou, more than the daily average of 50 apartments earlier in the month.

Longfor Group has three projects for sale in Guangzhou, and they all have seen a large increase in people visiting them, a staff member told Yicai. The number of visitors to one of the projects doubled last week from the week before and sales have surged by 20% to 30%.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor