HOME sales in two of China’s biggest cities soared in the past two days following mortgage relaxations, an early sign that government efforts to cushion the housing slowdown is helping. Existing-home sales for Beijing and Shanghai doubled over the weekend from the previous one, according to CGS-CIMB Securities. “We were surprised by the strong pickup in Beijing and Shanghai,” said Raymond Cheng, head of China property at CIMB. The two mega cities, each with a population of more than 20 million, benefited the most from Thursday’s announcement which lowered down-payment thresholds across the nation. Beijing and Shanghai also will no longer disqualify people who’ve previously had a mortgage — even if fully repaid — from being considered a first-time homebuyer, as long as they don’t own a property, according to separate statements from the city governments. New-home projects also drew interest. In Beijing, more than 1,800 units of new homes were sold Saturday alone, more than half of the 3,100 homes in August, according to Centaline property agency analyst Zhang Dawei. Some new housing projects in Shanghai recorded the same number of transactions in just one day as they had during the previous month, according to a separate report in The Paper. Zhang said that second-hand home transactions in Beijing grew by more than 100% to 1,200 units Saturday compared with a week before, China Securities Journal cited him saying. In order to handle the spike, property agents worked around the clock over the weekend. In Shanghai, prospective buyers viewed sample homes at a project in the Lingang area till 3 a.m., a day after the announcements, exceeding expectations of State-owned builder CSC Jiuhe, according to multiple agents who originally were only told to prepare to work till midnight. “The recent easing since last week has exceeded expectations,” Betty Wang, senior economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, said before the announcements in Beijing and Shanghai. The measures came after China’s home sales slumped in August. (SD-Agencies) | 