When New Century Real Estate cut its housing prices by 15 per cent two months ago, the Chinese developer, far from panicking, was in a triumphant mood. It believed the discount was a deft move to get ahead of the market and sell its unsold backlog of apartments.
Chinese property companies have reduced prices on only the rarest of occasions over the past decade, during which time average property values have more than doubled. New Century calculated that its cut – at the Mingjun residential complex in the eastern city of Hangzhou – would attract a flood of interest. It was right, at first.
The number of people viewing properties quintupled overnight, according to Luo Chengwu, an operations manager.