As the Olympic Games approach, Shanghai's housing rental market is seeing increased demand from both domestic and international soccer fans. Real estate agents say many people are looking for a short-term rental during the Olympics. Small apartments near the location of the soccer venue are the most popular. The demand has pushed prices up to double the normal level.

But some home owners in Shanghai are still reluctant to cash in on the Olympic interest. They say short-term rentals will be more trouble than they're worth, and they worry about big losses if they fail to rent their apartment after the Olympic Games. Because of these worries, many home owners say they still prefer long-term and stable renters.

Shanghai, Beijing see housing market slump

The continual downturn in the property market across China has taken its toll on real estate agencies. Shanghai and Beijing are two of the former surging real estate hot spots that are now witnessing many agencies to close up shop.

Shanghai's Pudong district used to be one of the hottest spots for developers. There would be fierce competition for highly sought after sections of land and buyers would aggressively bid for investment projects. But the high priced financial hub -- has been losing it once perceived soaring value. July saw average housing prices discounted at 10 percent. And in June, homes were offered at a 5 percent discount. But trends are showing that the more discounts that are being offered the more unwilling home buyers have become to making purchases. July witnessed second hand property transactions in Shanghai dropping nearly fifty percent from only two month earlier.

So it's not surprising that nearly 10,000 real estate agency outlets have closed their doors since last July. For the fewer than 7,000 agencies that are still operating, some had "zero" transactions in July. Experts says Shanghai's real estate agency sector has experienced significant losses over the past few months.

And Beijing's housing agents had no better business than Shanghai. Trading volume in July dropped one third from June. In contrast to last July, that's a 60 percent slump. Second hand property prices have been reduced 2.6 percent on average. Experts say that after a series of governmental measures to curb the red-hot sector, the housing market in Beijing will not likely recover over the short term.

But other market observers say there is still genuine demand in the Beijing housing market. And that the Beijing Olympics may serve to attract new enthusiasm and vigor for investment in the capital's real estate market -- from both home and abroad.