During February, the market for second-hand real estate in Beijing made a gradual recover, with prices and trade volume both rising steadily, Beijing Business Today reports. According to statistics collected by two major agencies, the volume of second-hand homes that changed hands in February was up 13.2% over January, and 31.6% over February 2005. The average price was 5527 yuan per square meter, or 1.2% higher than in January and 13.1% higher than February 2005. Beijing's western regions saw more growth than its eastern areas. Trade was concentrated in Haidian in the west and Chaoyang in the east, which together accounted for 50% of Beijing's total, but trade volume in Chaoyang decreased during this period. Fengtai, in the southwest, ranked third due to cheap prices and convenient transportation. Tongzhou in the west saw its share of the total Beijing market rise 2.12 points from January. Of the second-hand homes on the market, two-bedroom flats continued to command the leading position. Sales of single-bedroom flats, however, started to trend upward, gaining 3.66 points in February. Analysts suggest that this indicates that purchasers of two-bedroom flats are getting younger; that current owners of one-bedroom units are putting their sights on second-hand two-bedroom places rather than waiting for the new home market to fall. The number of purchasers paying in a single installment increased this month to 8% over levels in January. This comes as analysts predict a continued rise in interest rates. Over 42% of second-hand homebuyers did not take out a loan. High-price homes accounted for a large proportion of this rise; in certain areas of Haidian and Chaoyang, roughly 60% of homebuyers purchasing second-hand flats priced above 1 million yuan paid in a single installment without a bank loan. Homebuyers are not especially taking to the recent variable-rate loans introduced earlier this year by institutions like Everbright; a survey found that 58.73% of homebuyers think that interest rates will continue to rise, and hence would rather choose a fixed-rate loan over a variable-rate one. Homebuyers electing not to pay off their loan within ten years were especially favorable toward fixed-rate loans. Link: http://www.bjbusiness.com.cn/20060316/xbjls733.htm