Beijing banks have lowered the interest discounts on mortgage loans, but the local housing market has not been affected. Rather, transaction volume has taken off in the first week of September.

Statistics from the China Index Academy and Centaline show home sales have continued their upward trend from August. In the first week of this month, transaction volume grew by over 30 percent to the prior week.

Gong Ping, Employee of Centaline Beijing said "About 2,000 units were sold last week, a 30.5 percent growth week-on-week. Prices average around 20 thousand yuan per square meter."

Low-cost housing projects located in suburban areas account for the majority of sales.

Huang Yu, Deputy Director of China Index Academy said "Developers are introducing low-end projects located far from downtown... to meet consumers' living ends. Such projects in Beijing are being put into the market one after another."

Huang says developers' promotions have also pushed sales up. Since the property curbing measures were issued in April, demand has been accumulating. This month, some of that demand has translated into sales. Insiders say if sales continue to rise, prices may take off yet again.

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