Deep in the heart of Shanghai’s former French Concession, buyers are inspecting an old apartment, taking in the art deco tiling and high-ceiling rooms — theirs for an asking price of Rmb210mn ($29mn).
Shanghai’s heritage properties are hardly typical, but all across China, the appeal of so-called second-hand homes appears to be rising in what could herald a seismic shift for a crisis-hit real estate sector dominated for decades by the trade in new-build homes.
With Chinese cities strewn with unfinished housing developments, it is not hard to understand the emerging desire for older homes. A series of property group defaults has meant “end buyers don’t trust developers any more,” said Andrew Lawrence, Asia property analyst at TS Lombard. China is transitioning “from effectively a growth market in housing, which was driven by a speculative credit-fuelled boom, into a much more mature market”.