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• A residence priced $15 million was sold within hours
• Buyers snatch 200 large flats priced from nearly $5 million

Shanghai’s luxury real estate market is a bright spot in China’s bleak property sector. It’s the only one among the country’s mega cities that’s still attracting people to put down money in an asset class that has otherwise been abandoned.

[…] The move is driven by rich Chinese — many dwelling in the Yangtze River Delta region that Shanghai is part of — who are parking their money only in surefire investments […] buyers are a mixture of locals and outsiders, many from the neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, according to sellers and developer advisers. Shanghai allows non-local homebuyers if they’ve paid income taxes for three years.

[…] Shanghai’s more affluent and entrepreneurial demographic is helping with the rebound, whereas the capital has more people working for state-owned enterprises and the government, meaning they already have access to government-subsidized housing.

[…] the trend is expected to cool down in the second half, after pent-up demand is released, according an analyst.