(Yicai) Oct. 25 -- Home sales in Shenzhen are expected to rebound markedly this month following the recent steps taken by China’s central government to bolster the country’s real estate market, according to researchers and industry associations.

Some 8,405 new homes were sold in Shenzhen this month as of Oct. 22, exceeding the 8,000 monthly level, according to the Leyoujia Research Center, which predicts full-month sales will pass 10,000.

Second-hand home sales in the southern city jumped 31 percent from a year ago to 5,005 this month as of Oct. 21, topping the 5,000 monthly level, per data from the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association. More than 8,000 could sell in October, breaking the previous record of 7,008 set in January 2021, according to Leyoujia.

The uptick comes after China rolled out a set of policies on Sept. 29 to shore up the nation’s property market that included cutting mortgage rates to no less than the benchmark loan prime rate minus 30 basis points and lowering the minimum downpayment.

“Every time real estate policies are eased, Shenzhen always sees a surge in purchasing power,” Shenzhen Beike Research Institute said in a report. “The new policies released on Sept. 29 have shown even better results than similar ones in recent years.”

Realtor KE Holdings, also known as Beike, has seen daily contract exchanges on second-hand homes in Shenzhen soar more than three-fold in the 21 days since the policy easing, compared with the 21 days before, according to the research institute.

Even though transactions have quickly increased, industry insiders are still relatively cautious about how long that will last given that new build and pre-owned home prices have not yet picked up.

This month’s fast rebound was partly the result of very low sales in September, the sales director at one real estate project in Shenzhen told Yicai. Thanks to the policy easing, pent-up demand from the past two months has been released in just a month, but whether sales can remain buoyant remains to be seen, he said.

While market sentiment has improved, there have been few cases of new projects reversing discounts or raising prices, the person noted. Fast sales at two developments were partly due to their prices being lower than the average for second-hand homes nearby, he said.

In the week ended Oct. 20, only 1,859 pre-owned apartments raised their asking prices, compared with 4,649 that cut them, according to listings on Beike’s local housing platform.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione