Experts: Housing prices to drop in Guangdong this year (2)

He urged developers to adjust prices to attract more property buyers, sell more apartments, improve their cash flow and withdraw currency from circulation.

Li Wenjiang, an analyst with the Guangzhou-based Hopefluent Group Holding Ltd, said: "I find little reason to hope that property prices will increase this year.

"The central government, which has set an economic-growth target of 7.5 percent for the country and has recommitted itself to controlling property markets this year, has looked at the decline in property prices carefully.

"This is not the time for residents to purchase apartments this year," the analyst said.

He said many Guangzhou developers began at the start of the year to try to attract buyers by lowering the prices they are selling certain properties for.

Huang Wenzi, a property developer, forecast that Guangdong property prices will fall by 15 percent this year.

Many residents are waiting to see what the coming months hold before they decide to purchase real estate.

"I think property prices in Guangzhou will continue to go down this year, so I will not buy a property now," said Chen Zhicong, a white-collar worker in Guangzhou.

"I'll wait until property prices return to something reasonable before I buy my first apartment."