Expectations have heightened in major Chinese cities like Shanghai that home prices are bottoming out following a six-year property slump, as would-be buyers actively hunt bargains amid the recent policy easing.

Brisk transactions are also shoring up brokers’ confidence in the market where the prices of some lived-in flats have almost halved from their peak.

“Most of the buyers are not betting on a turnaround, they just feel that home prices are more attractive now as the authorities could announce more market-boosting measures to buoy the property market,” said Li Yan, a sales manager at 5i5j Real Estate Brokerage in Shanghai. “More importantly, it is still a buyers’ market as they hold the bargaining power during negotiations.”

A buoyant Shanghai home market saw housing prices steadily increase between the mid-1990s and 2020 before mainland Chinese authorities implemented the “three red lines” policy to rein in excessive gearing among the nation’s developers, causing a crisis of confidence in the country’s most significant industry.

Millions of residents across the nation balked at the prospect of the value of their long-coveted flats being battered by worries that home purchases could incur heavy losses amid a potential sharp fall in prices.

Charlie Li, a 40-year-old Shanghai resident, said he took a cue from recent transaction numbers and government directives, deciding to pursue proper purchase targets as home prices showed signs of stabilising.