(Yicai Global) June 5 -- Demand for residential properties in China, suppressed by the Covid-19 outbreak, is being quickly unleashed as the epidemic is brought under control in the country. Sales last month were much higher than that in the same period last year, with growth in some instances exceeding 50 percent.

Sales at 77 of the top 100 real estate developers picked up in May compared with the previous month, while 67 logged year-on-year gains, according to data the CRIC Research Center, a real estate data research institute, released on June 2. As a result, the total decline at the top 20 firms narrowed to 4.9 percent this year through the end of May.

Large real estate group Gemdale sold 1 million square meters of residential property last month, up 33 percent from a year earlier, and the contract value was CNY22.8 billion (USD3.2 billion), a gain of almost 57 percent. In the first five months, the group’s total sales area was 3.1 million sqm, a 2.8 percent annual drop, and the contract value was CNY67.8 billion, up a little over 4.8 percent.

Property firms are trying out an innovative marketing approach dubbed ‘celebrities + live streaming + selling houses,’ which along with the help of preferential policies, has enhanced their brand awareness and boosted home sales, the China Index Academy said in a report today.

Editor: Peter Thomas