The strict measures rolled out by the Central Government to rein in soaring property prices over the past month have delayed purchases by potential buyers in most urban areas. However, high housing prices are still hanging over many major Chinese cities, domestic media reported in recent days.

Beijing

In Beijing, property prices grew by 14.7 percent in April year on year, peaking in the past 10 months, while the total floor space sold dropped to less than 1.2 million square meters, about 41 percent less than in March, the China Daily cited statistics from the capital’s statistics bureau.

The average housing price inside Beijing’s fourth ring road from January to April reached 34,112 yuan (US$5,016) per square meter, it said.

Shenzhen

In April, the price of newly built houses in Shenzhen reached 20,567 yuan per square meter, a year-on-year increase of about 67 percent, while the total area sold in the city dropped to 291,200 square meters, a year-on-year decrease of about 61 percent, statistics from the Shenzhen bureau of land and resources showed.

"Shenzhen's property market is starting to show a downward trend with drops in both transaction and price," a report from the city’s major realty agency Shenzhen Centaline said, according to the Shenzhen Economic Daily yesterday.

Shenzhen Centaline sold only 422 houses between April 16 and May 15, a 89.6 percent decrease compared with the 30 days prior to the implementation of the new curbing measures, while their average price dropped by 9.17 percent, the Shenzhen Economic Daily said.

Shanghai

Zhang Xiuhua, CEO of the Shanghai-based Fortune-Sun Reality Consultant Co. Ltd., said housing prices in Shanghai are not falling as expected and the macro-control policies have only restrained transactions, with only 71,000 square meters of real estate sold during the first week in May, about 35 percent less than the previous week.