Standard & Poor's: Mainland real estate has bottomed out, expecting a surge in second-hand sales to drive overall real estate market stabilization.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's believes that the mainland property market has already hit bottom, with a sharp increase in sales in the second-hand property market expected to help stabilize the overall property market in the second half of the year. Standard & Poor's report stated that although the growth in property transactions is leaning towards the second-hand market, it does not provide much help to real estate developers. However, they believe that this situation is a precursor to an improvement in market sentiment, which should eventually an increase in first-hand sales and an improvement in credit indicators for rated property developers. Standard & Poor's estimates that the total sales of the mainland property market this year will reach RMB 17 trillion, similar to last year. Among them, sales in the first-hand market will decrease from RMB 9.7 trillion last year to RMB 8-8.5 trillion. However, Standard & Poor's has warned that if the effects of the policies introduced in September last year weaken and there are no new follow-up measures, the property market may not be able to recover. Additionally, if another domestic real estate company defaults, it may affect the market sentiment before the property market actually recovers.