Property transactions increase in China

China's economy is weakening, but money printing by the central bank could reignite the real estate bubble at a moment's notice.

Beijing's property sales, including new and pre-owned homes, saw a strong rebound in the first half of May, according to real estate brokerage Century 21. It said 7,132 apartments were sold in the first 15 days of May, up 103 percent year-on-year. Sales of pre-owned homes jumped 75 percent to 5,645 units.

"Property developers' strategy of cutting prices to stimulate sales did work. Also, potential buyers' sentiment improved," said Su Ri, senior analyst from Century 21.

According to China Index Academy, the research unit of the country's largest real estate website SouFun Holding Ltd, about 60 percent of the cities it monitors saw a rebound in property sales last week on a yearly basis.

Suzhou, Xiamen, Wenzhou, Lanzhou and Haikou had a rebound of more than 100 percent.

Some property developers have even increased prices.

China Resources Land Ltd plans to launch the second phase of its Spanish-style villa project in Beijing next month, and prices will probably be more than 20 percent above those on the first phase launched in November.

Housing price decline spreads to more cities

This chart of the renminbi shows what's been happening behind the scenes of the mild uptick in real estate. If the market does improve, expect this very modest depreciation in the renminbi to turn into a serious move: