Two catalysts
Government policy is one of the catalysts of the recent wave of home buying, said Wang, from the Capital Securities.
In 2015, the central government implemented a series of measures to prop up the real estate market, including lowering benchmark interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio, the minimum amount of cash domestic banks must hold in reserve.
On February 19, the central government announced plans to cut deed and business taxes on home purchases in most cities to reduce the property glut weighing on the country's real estate market. The central government has also cut the deed tax for secondhand houses, though not in Shanghai.
"Although Shanghai has not benefited much from these policies, the mere fact that the Chinese government is supporting the real estate sector sends out encouraging signals about the market, and that's enough to prompt investors to act," Wang told the Global Times on Monday.
Zhang said that the slumping stocks were another factor driving the city's real estate market.
"Shanghai residents are known for having a savvy mind about investment. They don't keep their money idle. They are always looking for new investments, whether they're stocks or real estate," he noted.
As such, when stock prices are down, it makes sense for residents to seek a better place to put their money.
Local potential
Shanghai is an international metropolis whose real estate market has great long-term potential, Zhang said.
For one thing, Shanghai's population has grown steadily in recent years.
It is estimated that the city's population will grow to about 25 million around 2020, according to figures in the Outline of Shanghai Master Plan (2015-40), which was released in December 2015.
"The burgeoning population will generate a lot of demand for houses," Zhang said.
More and more nonlocal investors, including buyers from other countries and regions, are also buying houses in Shanghai as investment. "More and more of my clients are coming from places outside the Chinese mainland, such as Hong Kong and Singapore," he noted.
Varied effects
Shanghai's realtors have made out in the current market.
"One of my colleagues made about 10 million yuan last year," Zhang said.
A Shanghai resident, who bought a house around Spring Festival holidays, told the Global Times on Monday that many of the real estate agents she knew had benefited from Shanghai's rising housing market.
"I met a real estate agent two years ago, who had just gotten married and was renting a house. When I saw him again two years later, he had managed to buy a three-bedroom apartment," said the homeowner, who didn't wish to be named.
But rising housing prices have also made people anxious, particularly nonlocals who came to Shanghai to work.
Lu Xiaotian, a native of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, said that she is a bit worried about rising real estate prices.
"I have intended to buy a house, but it's hard to accumulate the money, particularly when rent is rising with home prices, which eats up much of my wages," she said on Monday.
Zhang also said that government measures should be rolled out to cater to the needs of different classes, such as levying higher taxes on rich people while easing purchasing requirements for ordinary residents.
