(Yicai Global) June 26 -- The Chinese real estate market remained cold during the Dragon Boat Festival, a three-day annual holiday that ended yesterday, despite cities having lowered the floor on mortgage rates for homebuyers after the central bank cut the benchmark loan prime rate.

Only 4,547 apartments sold in 10 key Chinese cities monitored by realtor Zhugefang between June 22 and 24, down over 60 percent from the Dragon Boat Festival in 2020, according to its data.

After the People’s Banks of China cut the one-year and over five-year LPR by 10 basis points to 3.55 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively, on June 20, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities trimmed the lower rate limit on home loans, Yicai Global learned from local banks and realtors.

A property developer in eastern China said most cities where it has projects did not perform well during the Dragon Boat Festival. At projects in Jiangsu province and the city of Suzhou, it had 6 percent and 25 percent fewer visitors than over the previous two weekends.

Sales over the holiday were poor in China’s eastern first- and third-tier cities, a marketing employee at another local builder said, adding that new promotional events and discounts are almost pointless.

The number of apartments sold in 50 key cities between May 29 and June 18, before the Dragon Boat Festival, plunged 20 percent from a year ago, data from the China Index Academy showed.

As more government policies will likely be introduced in the near future, the property market is expected to further improve and eventually stabilize, said Chen Wenjing, marketing research director at the CIA.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione