Institutions: The "small spring" market trend is emerging in core city real estate, with a noticeable recovery in the Beijing and Shanghai second-hand housing markets in March.

On April 7, according to the China Index Academy, real estate in first-tier cities showed some recovery after the Spring Festival, driven by the release of demand. Secondhand home transactions have continued to perform better than new homes, with Beijing and Shanghai warming up first.

New homes: With demand being released after the Spring Festival, high-quality projects in core cities being concentrated on the market, and marketing efforts being strengthened, transactions in the market showed marginal improvement. In March, the year-over-year decline in contracted area of new homes across the top 100 cities narrowed to 11%. Among them, Guangzhou grew by 25% year over year, while Beijing and Shanghai fell by 27% and 5%, respectively; the decline narrowed noticeably compared with the previous month. In the first week of April (3.30–4.5), the new home markets in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen continued the recovery trend, and weekly transactions recorded growth on a month-over-month basis.

Secondhand homes: A “small spring peak” market has emerged in some core cities. Supported by demand, transaction volumes in Shanghai and Beijing increased despite a relatively high base. In Shanghai, the effects of the “Seven Articles” policy have shown: in March, secondhand commodity housing transactions reached 31,000 units, the highest in nearly five years (first time exceeding 30,000 units since April 2021). On a higher base, it rose 6% year over year. In April, market activity continued to stay strong, and in the first week (3.30–4.5), transactions grew 32% year over year. In Beijing, secondhand residential transactions in March were nearly 20,000 units, up 3% year over year and reaching a new monthly high in 15 months. In the first week of April (3.30–4.5), transactions grew 36% year over year.