More than 200 real estate properties were presented at the 15th Shanghai Spring House Exhibition.

The 4-day exhibition kicked off last Wednesday, four days after the central bank raised its benchmark lending rates by 0.27 percentage points, which caused home mortgage loan rates to rise accordingly.

But it seems this had little affect on those who really need a house.

"Of course the new policy will have some effect but it won't be weighing much in my decision, as we really need to buy a new home."

Shanghai's housing market has just shown some signs of rebounding since March, with transactions and prices climbing up from the bottom. That's why local reports say the central bank's credit squeeze, which is aimed mainly to cool the overheated real estate market in some cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen, could in the meantime send an unwanted signal to Shanghai's housing market.

The city's Public Housing Fund Management Center said in March that it planned to significantly raise the ceiling for homebuyers seeking mortgage loans from the fund, so as to benefit more house-buyers and boost apartment sales.

More new properties appeared around the outer ring of the city, with an average price of 6-8 thousand yuan or 750 – 1 thousand US dollars per square meter.

As the supply of houses is sufficient, watchers are more patient in their decision-making.

"I think I'll wait for a longer time and see how the price goes, as well as whether new policies will come out."

The result is an increasing pressure on developers to get the properties sold, so they try their best to attract attention. From free furniture and home appliances to discounts on prices, various promotions were carried out to get visitors interested. From this year on, speculative investmnet will likely retreat from the Shanghai market, and the majority of home buyers now are buying houses for their own use.

For China Drive, this is Xiaoyu.