Beijing's new housing sales see sharp Q1 decline

Sales of Beijing's new residential housing plummeted by 50 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, mainly due to seasonal factors, research from Savills showed.

Due to the Spring Festival, the first quarter is usually a flat season for property transactions. Sales of new residential apartments in the capital stood at 414,000 square meters, a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 35.8 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 50.4 percent, according to Savills, a UK-based property consulting company.

Meanwhile, new supply in the firsthand residential market reached 493,000 square meters, a decrease of 32.2 percent compared with the former quarter. The supply of residential land will be concentrated in homes with joint property rights and land with controlled prices. In addition, due to the impact of urban planning, the supply of commercial land is expected to be concentrated in areas outside the Fifth Ring Road with limited quantities.

On the other hand, the government will continue to monitor high-end projects in the residential market. As a result, the supply of high-end homes in the market will be reduced accordingly, and demand from improvement-oriented purchases will be curbed.

Fan Hang contributed to this story