A couple visits a housing expo in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on Oct 2. New home prices in 100 major Chinese cities averaged 10,554 yuan ($1,724) per square meter in September, up for a 16th consecutive month in month-on-month terms. Wang Jiankang / For China Daily

Home sales in major cities didn't lose steam during the weeklong National Day holiday, which started on Oct 1, as homebuyers scrambled to sign contracts before they are priced out of the market.

Housing markets in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Hainan remained bullish during the long holiday period, encouraging property developers and sellers to take a more aggressive stance than before.

In Beijing, homebuyers are now paying between 300,000 yuan ($49,000) and 800,000 yuan more to get pre-decorated apartments in newly released residential projects. Some developers in the capital city have started to charge a "decoration fee", averaging between 4,000 yuan and 9,000 yuan per square meter, Xinhuanet.com reported on Sunday. This means that homebuyers are spending more for down payments, and that the current cost of an apartment priced between 1.2 million yuan and 1.7 million yuan could now be 450,000 yuan higher than before the move.

In Shanghai, residential projects neighboring the pilot free trade zone, which was officially launched in late September, are being eagerly chased by homebuyers and investors. The prices of some apartments in the area have already increased 20 percent.

For instance, Lingang New City, which is included in the Yangshan Free Trade Port Area, saw its average home prices rise 22.3 percent year-on-year to 11,536 yuan per sq m, according to data collected by Sohu Focus, a real estate website.

In the secondary market, average prices rose 10 percent for apartments near the Waigaoqiao area one week after the State Council — China's cabinet — approved the free trade zone project in late August, according to Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants.

And as of Sept 11, the volume of home transactions had surged 470 percent month-on-month to 15,500 sq m for property near the Waigaoqiao area, the Shanghai-based Jiefang Daily reported.