ATTRACTIVE promotions by property developers are paying off as transactions of new-release apartments in Shenzhen started to pick up during March, according to the lastest figures from the city's housing watchdog.

An average of 112 apartments were sold each day in March, up by 315 percent compared to February sales, yesterday's Shenzhen Economic Daily said, citing figures from the bureau of land resources and housing management.

"The market became even more active from March 8 when daily transactions amounted to 128 apartments on average, reaching the same level of the same period last year," the Daily quoted an unnamed analyst with the Hong Kong-listed Midland Realty as saying in yesterday's report.

He said many developers adopted various forms of promotion to attract home buyers in addition to lowering property prices.

Prices in some new releases in Futian District were lowered by nearly 30 percent, according to yesterday's Southern Metropolis Daily.

The report said a residential building in Jingtian area had an average price of 16,800 yuan per square meter in March, down by 27 percent compared to October, when apartments in the building were sold at an average price of 23,000 yuan per square meter. It did not name the building.

Some developers also released a limited number of apartments for a set period at a "special price," which was sometimes 20 percent lower than the average price.

Twenty "specially" priced apartments in the Jingtian building were sold out in one day, the report said. One homebuyer, identified only as Yao, said the building was conveniently located with good public transport and this made it popular among homebuyers. However, "the low price is the main incentive for my purchase of an apartment here," Yao said.

He said he bought one even though the apartment was not on his preferred floor, neither is it facing south, which is popular among buyers, because of the "low price."

A free apartment balcony is another attractive promotion used by property developers, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.

"I bought an apartment although I missed the chance to buy a specially priced one, as the developer offered a 10-square-meter balcony for free. In this case, the actual price was lowered to 12,000 yuan per square meter taking that space into calculations," said another homebuyer who declined to be named. The selling price of his apartment was 16,000 yuan per square meter.

However, the second-hand property market remains inactive, with prices continuing to fall. A Midland Realty research report said transactions of second-hand apartments in March dropped by 58 percent compared with the same period last year but did not elaborate.

(Wei Jie)