(Yicai) Dec. 24 -- Second-hand home sales in Shanghai and Beijing have increased as the end of the year nears, driven by affordable pricing and high prices for new builds.

Shanghai's annual pre-owned homes sales had topped 243,900 units as of Dec. 19, compared with 242,700 for the whole of last year, which had already significantly increased from 2022 and 2023, according to statistics from the Shanghai Real Estate Transaction Center.

Sales in Beijing jumped 20 percent to 14,446 units last month from October, data from the capital’s housing commission showed. In addition, relevant new listings in the city on Lianjia, the country's largest real estate agency, climbed 3.2 percent, while buyer inquiries rose 5.5 percent.

The pre-owned home market attracted many homebuyers this year with low price entry points, said Lu Wenxi, a senior analyst at realtor Shanghai Centaline Property. Many homeowners have been eager to sell so as to move to relatively better ones, resulting in significant discounts, Lu pointed out.

In addition, the price of new homes in Shanghai has been very high this year, Lu noted. "For buyers with a budget of just over CNY10 million (USD1.4 million), there aren't many good new options, so many people choose to buy second-hand houses," Lu said.

Beijing's pre-owned housing market has had several notable characteristics this year, Guo Yi, chief analyst at a real estate analytics and consulting firm Heshuo Institution, told Yicai. On the one hand, unit prices have fallen for eight consecutive months, while on the other, the decline in the average sales price per unit has been more pronounced, she noted.

The average price of a pre-owned home in Beijing fell to CNY3.5 million from CNY3.8 million (USD497,970 from USD540,655) last month from June, Guo pointed out.

The supply and demand balance is key to whether prices can stabilize, with the number of pre-owned homes listed in Beijing down to about 157,000 units from last year's high of 176,000, which is still high compared with the market’s low point of about 100,000, according to Guo.

"Only when listings fall back to the 100,000 to 120,000 range can prices in Beijing's pre-owned home market truly stabilize, or even increase," she said.

Editor: Martin Kadiev