Residential property sector to stay stable 
2019-04-23
Shanghai’s residential property market is likely to remain stable with improved accessibility for medium- and low-income households, and upgrades of older residential communities will continue, the head of the city housing authority said yesterday.
“The residential property market remained generally stable last year in terms of both home and land prices as well as market expectations,” said Hu Guangjie, director of Shanghai Housing Management Bureau.
The floor area of new and occupied homes sold rose 2.2 percent and 5 percent in 2018, while the price indices of new and existing homes edged up 0.4 percent and slipped 2.7 percent, Hu said in a radio broadcast.
And progress has been made in the multilayer housing guarantee system, aimed at ensuring housing for all levels of society.
A total of 125,000 households have been covered by the city’s low-rent program, benefiting about 43,500 families. There are 176,000 public rental apartments and 500,000 households have been helped under the program. 
In terms of shared-ownership homes — where householders share ownership with the government — 95,000 households have contracts with the government.
Later this year, the city plans to extend the program to cover all qualified non-local residents following trials in three districts.
The city aims to complete work in 1,245 communities where waste water was drained through rainwater pipes and accelerate installation of elevators in older residences.
