(Yicai Global) Dec. 7 -- The property market of southern China's Shenzhen, the earlier leader of real estate price hikes, was getting busier in November after months of transaction hiatus as developers and homeowners accepted smaller deals.

Contracts on more than 5,640 new houses were officially registered in the southern tech hub last month, up 20 percent from October, according to statistics by Leyoujia Research Center.

The second-hand housing market recovered even quicker. More than 2,210 pre-owned houses were sold last month, up 38 percent from October, per the same research institution.

Things are expected to get better. In December, more than 2,500 second-hand homes should be sold, and the number should rise significantly in the fourth quarter from the previous three quarters, Leyoujia Research Center predicted.

Consumers have been making quicker decisions to buy houses since October as the prices are falling, marketing employees at real estate brokerages told Yicai Global.

Vendors have recently been offering more sales promotions, Yicai Global noticed. Some have even offered luxury cars to buyers or suggested a model of paying the down payment in installments to attract purchasers.

The government can be thanked for some of the fresh activity. Since February, sellers have been getting used to the city's policy of setting reference prices for pre-owned housing aimed at controlling speculation. Some 60 percent of all second-hand house transactions in the municipality last month were executed at government-controlled referential prices, per Leyoujia Research Center.

But insiders suggest other reasons for the revitalization too. Shenzhen's real estate market has been rebounding recently because of the earlier low base number and the build-up of rigid demand, according to analysts. However, this is not the turning point yet so it is too early to make any conclusions, they added.

Meanwhile, new houses are being built, causing more supply. Most new housing projects are stuck in fierce competition as few can sell out right after completion and so there's a great differentiation in sales, said the head of a real estate company in Shenzhen.

The supply is supposed to even further increase this quarter. Nearly 2.3 million square meters of new commercial housing were planned to enter the market in Shenzhen in the fourth quarter, according to the city's annual sales plan released earlier. In the first three quarters, the realized volume was almost 3.8 million sqm.

But the surge in activity is not historically impressive yet. Around 2,000 pre-owned houses were sold each month in the past few months, lower than the 10-year average of about 6,000 units per month, according to statistics offered by several agencies.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi