Broad consensus

The property industry has broadly echoed Pan's views.

"The latest macro data suggest that some major indicators of the real estate market have indeed continued to show signs of marginal improvement recently, although it must also be noted that the growth rate of real estate investment continues to decline, and the decline in sales continues to expand, indicating that the real estate market is still at a stage of bottoming out," said Pang of JLL China.

"While waiting for the previous policies to take effect, confidence and patience are also imperative before any further improvement in the real estate market," Pang said.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, property investment fell 9.4 percent in the first 11 months of 2023 compared with a year earlier, while in the first 10 months, it declined by 9.3 percent.

During the same period, commercial housing sales fell 8 percent year-on-year in terms of floor area, extending the downward trend by 0.2 percentage point, NBS data showed.

"Despite market changes, as a real estate service provider, we will always put the focus on meeting the needs of consumers and solving every problem emerging in home transactions," said Wang Yongqun, chief operating officer of real estate broker Lianjia.

For example, as residential consumption becomes more service-oriented, safety has turned into a primary concern for home trading consumers, Wang added.

As per a recent S&P report, both market sentiment and prices in China's property market are starting to become normalized.

S&P projected that the Chinese property market has bottomed out.

From a long-term perspective, the real estate sector will strike a new balance between supply and demand that adapts to the current market scale, given the top-level policy guidance and actual market demand, S&P Global (China) Ratings said in its report dated Nov 24.

Chen Sheng, president of the China Real Estate Data Academy, said anticipation was the keyword of the property market in 2023.

Chen said that despite all the challenges, the spirit of "never giving up" led various parties — the government, industry players, property developers and consumers — to work together with the hope of stabilizing the market and aiding in its recovery.

"Such a spirit will carry on in 2024 and bring about positive changes in the property market," Chen said.