The rental price of Shenzhen homes dropped by nearly 10 percent during the fourth quarter of last year because of the financial crisis, the city's rental market watchdog said over the weekend.

The average monthly rent of apartment homes stood at 33 yuan (US$4.78) per square meter, down 9.4 percent from the third quarter, according to a report by the rental home management office.

The rents on high-end apartments around the Shenzhen Hi-tech Industrial Park in Nanshan District have dropped significantly, said the office, without saying how much.

"The middle- and high-end apartments near the Shenzhen Hi-tech Industrial Park are a typical example (of lowered rents)," said the report. "Because of the economic slowdown, the white-collar workers in the park saw their incomes drop and some of them moved to cheaper apartments farther away from their offices."

Yantian District has seen the greatest drops in rents. "The rents for all Yantian apartments dropped because the major industry of Yantian, logistics, was greatly affected by reduced exports and imports," said the report.

Office rents saw an even bigger slump, with average monthly office rents dropping by 16.5 percent to 93 yuan per square meter, said the report.

"In Futian District, some top office buildings have cut their rents by half," said the report.

The report said the rents might continue to drop after the Spring Festival.

(Shenzhen Daily January 5, 2009)