NEARLY 80 percent of respondents think housing prices in Shanghai are still too high despite government tightening measures being in place for more than one year, according to a latest industry survey.
Almost 90 percent of them said they could buy a home that's equivalent to a maximum 10 times their annual household income, revealed the online survey conducted by Soufun.com, which collated responses from over 3,600 people during the week between March 6 and Monday.
The annual household income of 70 percent of the respondents doesn't exceed 200,000 yuan (US$31,645), according to Soufun, operator of the country's largest real estate website.
Sky Xue, an analyst at China Real Estate Information Corporation, said that "the country's austerity measures to curb housing speculation have been taking effect but I guess it still needs some time for home prices to reach an affordable level for the majority of people. It will probably take another few years for the country to build enough affordable apartments for its people."
More than half of the respondents said they plan to purchase a house in Shanghai within one year while 22 percent of them hope to seal a deal over the next 12 to 24 months, the survey revealed.
About two-thirds of them prefer newly-built homes and only 10 percent of them said they will consider a property in the downtown.
The average price of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, fell below the 20,000 yuan per square meter level in Shanghai in February, the first time in 19 months, according to a report released earlier by Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co.
Meanwhile Deloitte said yesterday in its latest China Real Estate Investment Handbook that China's tightening measures to curb housing speculation will continue to create short-term uncertainties for the real estate market this year.
"There is not a strong likelihood for the government to lift its curbs," said Richard Ho, Deloitte China national real estate industry leader. He added that "China's property market will remain uncertain in 2012."