Credit controls hit Shanghai real estate

SHANGHAI: The city's once red-hot housing market is losing its luster, as government credit controls begin to bite.

Average daily property sales since mid-November have dropped 50 percent from the first half of this year to below 600 apartments, according to the China Real Estate Index System. Only 376 apartments changed hands last Sunday, the first weekend after the central bank clarified the definition of "second" properties that are subject to higher mortgage deposits.

More than 55 percent of homebuyers have delayed purchase plans, according to a recent survey by property information firm Soufun.com.