Shenzhen’s high-end housing market remains on the boil despite the city government’s introduction of tighter buying restrictions.

A newly launched residential project facing Shenzhen Bay, The Peninsula phase three, sold 409 flats – more than 80 per cent of those on offer – last weekend, with the value of sales totalling 5.2 billion yuan (HK$ 6.2 billion). The average price per unit was more than 10 million yuan.

The developer, Nan Hai Corporation, said on Monday that more than 2,000 potential buyers had visited the sales centre over the weekend.

David Hong, head of research at consultancy China Real Estate Information Corp, said: “Projects in prime locations are in short supply in Shenzhen.”

Nan Hai describes The Peninsula as sitting in the most dynamic area of Shenzhen, close to Shekou Port and the Qianhai free-trade zone, with the sea on three sides.

Phase one of the project sold at an average 10,000 yuan per square metre in 2006. Ten years later, average selling prices for phase three are now 100,000 yuan per square metre. In the same decade, average housing prices in the city have risen fourfold.

Shenzhen home prices surged 58 per cent in the past year, making it the most expensive city in mainland China.

To rein in prices, the city government signalled in February that a tightening of policy was imminent, with the new measures finally being rolled out late last month.

Read the rest of the story @ SCMP (Summer Zhen)