As a barometer of the Chinese real estate market, the Shenzhen property market has been undergoing a deep adjustment recently. Despite some data showing a slight rebound in transaction volume, many senior real estate agents with 20 years of experience lamented, “I’ve never seen such a bad market in my 20-year career.” The precipitous drop in house prices has put many once high-priced properties on the verge of being slashed in half or even more. The current situation in the Shenzhen property market is a comprehensive reflection of the macroeconomic environment and insufficient consumer confidence.
According to a recent report by Securities Times, data from the Leju Research Center shows that as of August 11, the viewing transaction rate for second-hand homes in Shenzhen had reached 4.22% in August, an increase of 0.26 percentage points from July. Monitoring by the Shenzhen Shell Research Institute revealed that the average daily signing volume in early August increased by 6.4% compared to July and by 32.5% compared to the same period last year. However, the market insiders’ “feelings” are starkly different from the cold data.
During interviews in Shenzhen’s Luohu and Longgang districts, many senior second-hand property agents and managers expressed that the current second-hand housing market is still primarily driven by “price for volume” transactions.
A veteran real estate consultant and blogger with 20 years of real estate sales experience, “Master Tan,” stated on August 21 that buying a property in Shenzhen now feels like playing a game where prices have plummeted by 1 million and the market has completely transformed into a “buyer’s market.” Buyers have absolute bargaining power, can choose locations and property types, and can easily switch if unsatisfied. He expressed his astonishment, saying, “The current environment is that everything is rising except for salaries, and house prices are still falling.”
Li Yujia, Chief Researcher at the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, also pointed out that with a continuous increase in the listing volume of second-hand houses, the trend of “price for volume” is evident, and low total price and unit price properties remain dominant in the market.
Li Yujia predicted that considering the increasing listing volume of second-hand houses and the significant price reductions seen earlier, there are still many low-priced properties with low unit prices available in the market.
“Master Tan” listed the properties in Shenzhen that saw the most drastic price drops from 2020 to 2025.
He noted that in Shajing District, the “Bolin Junrui” property saw its transaction price drop from a peak of 82,000 RMB per square meter to only 40,000 RMB per square meter recently, a 50% decrease. The properties in Baozhong District, “Huayang Nianhua Village” and “Huayang Nianhua County,” have both plummeted from over 140,000 RMB per square meter to over 50,000 RMB per square meter, a 60% drop. Similarly, the “Moon Bay Garden” in Qianhai, Nanshan, saw its price drop from 100,000 RMB per square meter to less than 50,000 RMB per square meter. In the Longhua District, properties in the vicinity of “Longyuju” Phase IV, “Shuxiang Avenue,” “Shanghefang” have also seen their prices slashed by half or more. The most extreme case is the Bagualing Dormitory in Futian District, which saw its price drop from a peak of 140,000 RMB per square meter to 40,000 RMB per square meter, a 70% decrease.
He mentioned that the reason for the sharp drop in house prices is that houses are being built increasingly.
In May of this year, the Shenzhen Real Estate Information Network reported that Longyuju Phase IV, which rose to prominence with the concept of “renowned schools,” had its “glorious” moments. In 2019, the property’s prices surged from over 60,000 RMB per square meter to over 110,000 RMB per square meter, reaching a total price of 7.2 million RMB for a 63-square-meter 2-bedroom unit.
By May of this year, a similar unit in the property was sold at a unit price of 46,000 RMB per square meter and a total price of 2.9 million RMB. According to agents, a similar property was sold for only 2.8 million RMB, setting a new low price for the area.
Many properties that once had an average transaction price of over 100,000 RMB per square meter have also experienced a sharp decline. In the Bao’an area, the most severely affected properties were “Huayang Nianhua County” and “Huayang Nianhua Village.” For a small unit of 29 square meters in “Huayang Nianhua County,” the unit price in May was 54,500 RMB per square meter.
In March 2021, a similar unit in the same area was sold for 4.29 million RMB, at a unit price of 158,900 RMB per square meter. From the peak to the present, it has dropped by approximately 70%, equivalent to the prices in early 2017.
In the Bagualing area, the Bagualing Dormitory and Pengsheng Village properties also saw significant drops in prices.
During the upheaval in prices, sellers’ attitudes are exceedingly contradictory. An estate agent blogger with 17 years of experience, “Zhou Qianyi,” shared a frustrating anecdote.
He recounted an incident on August 18, where a seller he was representing quoted a price of 3.3 million RMB, and a buyer offered the same amount. They expected a smooth transaction but it ultimately did not materialize.
He narrated the incident: The second-hand property was located in Longhua District, Shenzhen. The buyer inspected the house twice with great detail, involving the whole family. They believed it met their requirements overall.
“I contacted the owner to ask if there was room for a price reduction. The owner insisted that 3.3 million RMB was the bottom-line price and could not be lowered further. The buyer agreed to the price, and we were ready to sign the contract. The deal was thought to be a sure thing.”
To everyone’s surprise, the seller went back on their word and demanded an increase of 200,000 RMB, citing that 3.3 million RMB was too low—a loss for them, as they felt they were selling cheaply. “Who can understand the feeling I had when I heard those words? I wanted to slam the table, curse, I really wanted to point out the seller’s fickle behavior and price hike. But the owner wouldn’t budge, leaving me to negotiate with the buyer. I had no choice but to push through and explain it to the buyer, who was so infuriated that he almost slammed the table. I was afraid he would even curse at me along with the seller.”
Zhou Qianyi said that the buyer, incensed, said, “I didn’t ask for a reduced price, and you increased it. Forget it, I don’t want this property anymore. I don’t like the seller. ” And then the client just walked away, unstoppable!
Zhou Qianyi, in frustration, said, “I’ve been doing real estate for 17 years, working tirelessly. I also wanted to close this deal! Am I being too demanding?”
Meanwhile, another blogger, “Shenzhen Ayutantoufang,” showcased another extreme scenario: a 95-square-meter second-hand property that was priced at 4.2 million RMB a couple of years ago, but the owner had now voluntarily slashed the price to 2.1 million RMB in hopes of a quick sale.
Even top-tier luxury homes have not been spared from the price reduction trend. On August 19, a real estate agent blogger specializing in high-end properties, “House Selection Research Institute,” revealed that he visited a roughly 1,200-square-meter sea-view mansion with a buying price of 20 million RMB.
He expressed his astonishment, stating that this ultra-luxurious mansion had four floors above ground and two below ground. The renovations took four years and cost 20 million RMB, opening his eyes to unprecedented luxury. The owner, needing to leave the country urgently, had to sell at a drastically reduced price of around 36 million RMB. This was equivalent to the total sum of the initial purchase price and renovation costs, indicating that even luxury homes had lost their liquidity.