Developers and property analysts are upbeat about the second-half outlook for the mainland property market after seeing a steady increase in transactions in the first five months of the year.

They said the market was traditionally more active in the second half, and the trend of rising transaction volumes was expected to continue for the remainder of the year as long as price increases were kept within narrow limits and the global financial crisis did not worsen.

'As a responsible developer, I don't believe mainland developers will raise sales prices sharply after the experience we had in 2008,' said Lawrence Hui Wai-man, the chief financial officer of Shimao Property Holdings

South China Morning Post