Residential property market showing signs of stabilization

An evident improvement in home transactions in first-tier Chinese cities suggests that the residential property market is stabilizing in major cities, paving the way for a bottoming out of the overall housing market in line with government policies, industry experts said.

"As home prices are gradually advancing despite a downward curve, the first half (of the year) may possibly present the best time for homebuyers to make a decision, as an upward trend may appear with market activities continuing to improve," said Yan Yuejin, deputy head of the Shanghai-based E-House China R&D Institute.

While the property market performance of smaller Chinese cities has been relatively flat, new home transactions in the nation's four benchmark cities — Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong province's Guangzhou and Shenzhen — reported an up to 95 percent surge month-on-month and an 18 percent increase year-on-year, in March.