Shenzhen may become the first mainland city to recover from the nationwide downturn in property prices, with sales volume now into its third consecutive month of a modest rebound.

Until the latest signs of a recovery in demand, the city had led the market downwards with sharp falls in sales since the third quarter of 2007, after the government released a series of austerity measures aimed at containing the sharp rise in property prices at the time.

Research by property consultant DTZ shows that transactions in Shenzhen's primary market had fallen to about 300,000 square metres a month over the period from August 2007 to October last year, from previous average monthly levels of roughly 500,000 square metres.

South China Morning Post