Jane Lai

MORE than 6,400 new apartments were sold in Shenzhen in November, the best month for new housing sales in 2008, according to statistics from the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Land Resources and Housing Management.

An average of 214 new houses were sold per day in November, in stark contrast to the average figure of 98 apartments sold between January and October. The average for November was not immediately available.

Almost 3,000 apartments were sold between Nov. 1 and 15, at an average price of 13,337 yuan (US$1,945) per square meter, according to the statistics.

Weekends in November were the best time for buyers to visit residential estates in the city, including the Villa Pearlescent estate in Honey Lake in Futian District. "Many families came to visit our new apartments this month and eight were sold," a male sales employee surnamed Mai said yesterday.

"One man bought four apartments at once at about 10 million yuan," Mai said. "The buyer said two were for him and the other two were for his parents."

Factors pushing up housing sales included the 20-percent down payment policy being offered by banks and the lower lending rates offered by China's central bank from Nov. 27 in the latest effort to stimulate the economy, Zhuang Chuxiong of the Villa Pearlescent said.

One unnamed insider said the lower lending rates were among the most efficient means to help house buyers regain confidence. "With the previous lending rates, we had to pay approximately 7,548 yuan every month for a 1-million-yuan loan with a payback period of 20 years, totaling 1.81 million yuan," he said.

But under the new lending policy, people need to pay only 6,210 yuan per month and 1.49 million yuan in total, he said. "It's a big difference of 320,900 yuan."