Luxury housing sales rise in Beijing

BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Sales of upscale housing in Beijing reversed a previous downward trend to record a sharp increase in November, driven by appetite from foreign buyers and relatively cheap loans, local real estate consulting agencies have said.

Luxury housing, mainly villas priced about 50,000 yuan (7,948 U.S. dollars) per square meter, saw hefty sales of 412 units in November, up 52 percent year on year and 84.8 percent month on month, according to Beijing-based Yahao Real Estate.

The busy transactions ended three consecutive monthly sales declines in the capital's luxury housing market, and also marked the sector's largest sales volume in the city since April 2010.

Total turnover amounted to 3.5 billion yuan, up 47.3 percent from last year, according to a private research center.

Motivated by the good results, industry insiders said many developers are mulling a markup of prices by upgrading their new houses, especially those around prime sites.

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