Shanghai real estate market remains strong throughout May Day holiday

Shanghai's real estate market remained robust during the just-concluded May Day holiday, as potential buyers used their extended free time to tour homes and make purchasing decisions.

A total of 924 resale homes were sold in Shanghai from Friday to Monday, a 13.8 percent year-on-year increase, according to data from the Shanghai Real Estate Trading Center.

In April, 28,742 resale homes were sold citywide, up 22.3 percent compared to the previous year.

At a real estate agency near Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Xuhui campus, only 20 percent of staff worked overtime during the holiday, yet the number of property viewings in the first three days of the break reached 26 groups, 1.3 times the number recorded during the same period last year.

Many homeowners putting their properties on the market are also looking to purchase another home.

"We are mainly wanting to trade up, selling our current home to buy the one we need. Since we're getting older, we'd prefer to move to a house with an elevator," said a homeowner.

"In the first three days of the holiday, our branch closed two deals. We completed about 24 deals in total in April. Compared to January, our branch has seen a significant increase," said Huang Yan, manager of the real estate branch.

Across the city, the real estate agency's 15 branches received 244 groups of potential buyers in the first four days of the May Day holiday, up 10 percent from the same period last year.

As market activity continues to heat up, sellers are seeing shorter listing cycles, and buyers are making decisions more quickly.

"According to our internal data, the transaction cycle has shortened significantly this year. Among our clients, 75 percent of those who come for viewings in a given month end up completing a deal within the same month. Looking at our listings, 63 percent of properties listed in a month are sold within that same month, up 18 percentage points compared to the same period last year," said Chen Xianjun, general manager of the resale home division at a local real estate agency.

Shanghai real estate market remains strong throughout May Day holiday

Crowds of music fans have been praised for their unified response after a medical emergency unfolded during a music festival in central China's Hubei Province on Sunday night, with some 20,000 revelers quickly parting to create a pathway for medics to transport a collapsed man to a waiting ambulance.

The heartwarming moment occurred on the streets of Jingzhou City, where a large number of people had gathered for a performance, when one of the attendees reportedly took unwell and fainted.

When the alarm was raised that the man was in need of medical assistance, the attentive crowd allowed emergency responders to come through and perform immediate first aid treatment on site, before a stretcher was brought to transport the man to a waiting ambulance.

In a remarkable scene, as seen in footage filmed from above, the crowds coordinated along with police and emergency personnel to separate and create a clear gap -- which some later referred to as a "life channel" -- for the collapsed man to be speedily carried through.

The actions of the crowds were hailed by local people and emergency workers in enabling the man to be on his way to hospital in the space of just three minutes.

"The entire process was very quick. Everyone was in totally sync when making this pathway for the man to come through," said Ding Yi, a local community worker.

"I ran through a small channel and quickly led the medical personnel to this location. When they were carrying out first aid, the stretcher arrived, and then they moved the patient to the ambulance. The whole process took no more than three minutes," said Pei Zhihong, a police officer, as he explained where the incident unfolded.

According to local police, the man is now out of danger and recovering well.

Massive crowd makes way to allow medics to treat, transport patient at music festival