Economy

Housing sales in Beijing hit record high

By Zhao Chunzhe (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-12-08 15:39

The traditional year-end slack season for housing sales is turning into a bumper year with 15,251 apartments being sold in Beijing this November, a record high in the past three years, the xinhuanet.com reported.

Sales of newly-built commercial houses amounts to 2.7 trillion yuan ($395 billion), dating from January to October this year, said Gu Yunchang, the vice president of China Real Estate Research Association.

"The number may grow to 3.8 trillion yuan ($556 billion yuan) at year end and may fatten to 6 trillion yuan ($878 billion) plus second-hand housing sales," Gu added.

The national total sales of consumption is around 10 trillion yuan ($1.46 trillion), from January to October 2009, said Wang Bingnan, vice director of Market Regulation Department of China’s Ministry of Commerce.

The statistics shows that more than half of the national consumption 2009 is spent on housing market, the report said.

"The bubble is already there, and far from the end," Zhang Yin, a real estate analyzer was quoted as saying.