(Yicai) Oct. 8 -- Housing projects in Shanghai have seen an increase in viewings and sales after the city introduced new property market polices before the National Day holiday and potential buyers returned to the city toward the end of the week-long break, according to industry insiders.

“I’ve lost count of how many clients I’ve hosted at peak times,” Cao Xiao, a brand representative for a development in Shanghai’s Yangpu district, told Yicai. On the morning of Oct. 7, after spending nearly an hour walking a prospective buyer through the property, she immediately moved on to the next. “It was basically non-stop. My feet were swollen by the end of the day."

Scenes like this were repeated across Shanghai. A sales director at a project in Pudong New Area said many prospective buyers visited with their families over the holiday, a factor that accelerated their buying decisions.

As the first lowdensity residential development launch in the area in more than a decade, it attracted a large number of interested local buyers. During the combined Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday period, the project had over 500 customer visits and secured new purchase commitments totaling CNY420 million (USD62.7 million).

In late August, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the People's Bank of China, and other government bodies issued major policies to overhaul the age-worn model governing real estate development and sales. Among the changes, mortgage timelines were a top concern for prospective homebuyers.

At the end of last month, Shanghai released detailed regulations on the sale of completed homes, tightening presales management, raising sales thresholds, and strengthening the oversight of funds. Under the new rules, for newbuild projects granted presale permits on or after Aug. 28, homebuyers who have signed a contract and made down payment, are not required to begin repaying the loan’s principal and interest before the home's completion filing is finalized.

These detailed rules eliminated uncertainty, enabling clients to make faster decisions, according to industry insiders. For some first-time buyers with genuine housing needs, the current policy -- requiring only a down payment with no mortgage repayments for the subsequent two and a half years -- eases the financial burden and encourages leverage. Meanwhile, the new framework also enables well-heeled buyers looking to move higher up the market to acquire highquality property with less capital tiedup.

“Before the new policy, 70 percent to 80 percent of upgrade buyers would pay in full, but since the policy took effect, they have all opted for the 15 percent down payment," a seasoned property industry professional revealed. "For these clients, the potential appreciation of the capital they retain is certainly more attractive that the roughly 3 percent annual interest cost on a home loan.”

The new policy framework has also brought about a series of other changes. Shifts in developers' cost structures driven by the new policy have led some projects to pull discounts, while others have signaled price hikes for upcoming batches of units, said Lu Wenxi, a senior market analyst at Centaline Property. This has created a sense of urgency among prospective buyers who are viewing properties or negotiating deals, he said.

“As Shanghai's detailed implementation rules officially take effect, market anxiety is expected to gradually subside," Lu predicted. He expects the market to return to normal transaction levels this month, with sales activity outside of the Outer Ring Road likely to maintain its current momentum.

Editor: Tom Litting