As many as 32 out of 40 major cities in China saw home rental fees drop year-on-year in 2020, the National Business Daily reported, based on a report from the Beike Real Estate Research Institute on Monday.

Rent fees per apartment in nearly 90 percent of the 40 cities declined year-on-year, among which first-tier cities saw bigger drops than second and third.

The average monthly rental fee of the 40 major cities registered at 2,976.8 yuan ($460.72) per apartment in 2020, down 10.5 percent year-on-year. The decrease in rental fees for first-tier cities reached 5.8 percent, and 4.7 and 1.2 percent for second and third-tier cities respectively.

Although rental fees went down, the period for a renter to select a home extended from 5.1 to 9.5 days in 2020, an increase of 84.5 percent.

Taking the rental market as a whole, renters will have more choices and tend to live in qualified houses as the supply-demand pattern in the rental market continues to refine in China, the Beike report said. The market has gradually shifted to the renter market.