Wuhan

Property prices in second- and third-tier cities are also increasing slightly, attracting speculative homebuyers to avoid the strict macro-control policies.

Chen Long, an analyst from the Wuhan Efang Research Center, said the average transaction price in the downtown area of Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, reached 6,640 yuan per square meter from May 6 to May 12, about a 0.33 percent increase from the previous week. The number of houses sold dropped 233, about 23 percent less than those of the previous week.

Chen said most property developers are not planning to offer any discounts on housing prices and most potential homebuyers are adopting a wait-and-see attitude at the moment.

Hangzhou

During the recent May Day holiday period, total transactions in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, was less than 10 units, but pre-owned houses downtown hit a record 20,000 yuan per square meter in April, statistics from Centaline Group showed.

Relatively low housing prices and relatively free policies have also attracted speculative property buyers to invest in second- and third-tier cities, industry figures showed.

The Central Government should ban buyers from purchasing property outside of their place of residence, said Li Chunyu, director of the market research department with the Kunming Hefuhuihuang Real Estate Co. Ltd.

About 60 percent of respondents in a survey by the major portal sina.com said they think housing prices will fall following the government’s strict control measures, while 30 percent of those polled thought otherwise.

Electricity in a large number of houses in 660 cities had not been used for more than six months, indicating an unexpectedly high vacancy rate in the country, according to recent records from the State Grid.