Property market set to continue in good health
Shanghai’s residential property market is to remain stable with improved accessibility for medium- and low-income households, and renovations of old residential communities will continue, the head of the city housing authority said on Monday.
“The residential property market remained generally stable last year in terms of both home and land prices as well as market expectations,” said Hu Guangjie, director of Shanghai Housing Management Bureau.
Citywide, the floor area of new and pre-occupied homes sold rose 2.2 percent and 5 percent in 2018, while the price indices of new and existing homes respectively edged up 0.4 percent and slipped 2.7 percent, Hu said in a radio broadcast this morning.
As for the multilayer housing guarantee system, steady progress has been made.
A total of 125,000 households have been covered by the city low-rent program with some 43,500 families currently benefiting. There are 176,000 public rental apartments and 500,000 households have been helped under the program. In terms of shared ownership homes, 95,000 households have contracts with the government. Later this year, the city plans to extend the program to cover all qualified non-local residents following trials in some districts of Hongkou, Songjiang and Jinshan.
The city aims to complete work in 1,245 residential communities where waste water was drained through rainwater pipes and to accelerate installation of elevators in old residences. A total of 429 buildings have been approved for elevators, according to Hu.