Shenzhen mulls curbs as pre-owned home speculators cash in

While the residential property market in key Chinese cities beats a retreat amid the coronavirus outbreak, prices of pre-owned homes in Shenzhen have defied the trend.

Experts warned of speculative activities in the particular market as prices of new homes have been strictly curbed.

In February, data from real estate agency Centaline Property show the average price of pre-owned homes in the coastal city increased 1.38 percent over the previous month, while it already had surged 2.3 percent in January.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the price index of pre-owned homes in Shenzhen soured 0.7 percent in January, while the percentages of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are less than 0.4 percent.

In addition, the growth is on the foundation of a sharp jump at the end of 2019, in contrast to national trend.