Potential homebuyers look at a property model in Nantong, Jiangsu province. XU JINBAI/CHINA DAILY
Housing prices continued to stabilise in major Chinese cities during November, with fewer cities reporting price spikes as nationwide curbs continued to bear fruit, experts said on Monday.
Out of the 70 major cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 44 cities reported higher prices for new homes, compared with 50 in October. It was also the lowest recorded figure in the last two years, according to the NBS.
Local governments continued to implement tightening measures in accordance with their requirements last month, while the long term mechanisms have helped ensure stability in the real estate market, said NBS chief statistician Kong Peng.
Last month, new home prices in the four first-tier cities rose by 0.6 per cent on a monthly basis, with Beijing seeing an increase of 1.7 per cent, followed by Shanghai (0.3 per cent) and Shenzhen (0.2 per cent).
Guangzhou, however, saw prices drop by 0.5 per cent from October, NBS data shows. Compared to last year, the four top tier cities saw a 4.9 per cent year-on-year growth in their new home prices last month.
“Beijing’s growth in new home prices may be due to the newly completed Beijing Daxing International Airport and the ongoing development work in Tongzhou. The promising development outlook has supported price hikes in the two regions,” said E-House China R&D Institute research director Yan Yuejin.
New home prices of 31 second-tier cities monitored by the NBS rose 0.2 per cent on a monthly basis, while the 35 third-tier cities saw new home prices go up by 0.5 per cent, down 0.3 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
‘Growth ranges have narrowed’
On an annualised basis, home prices in second-tier cities grew by 7.9 per cent, down 0.8 percentage point from October, marking the seventh month that the growth rate has fallen. In third-tier cities it was the eight consecutive month of flat or slower growth rates.
“No matter whether it is on a monthly or an annual basis, the 70 cities’ growth ranges have narrowed in comparison with the October data, which indicates that home prices are seeing slower growth rates, and in some cases even a downward trend due to the tightening measures,” said Yan.
The secondary market is usually seen as a better reflection of the property market in China. Last month, it hit a four-year low as just 32 cities reported monthly price hikes, while 33 cities reported price declines.
Average prices of pre-owned homes in the four top-tier cities rose by 0.2 per cent from October. In Shenzhen, prices jumped 1.4 per cent while in Beijing they weakened by 0.4 per cent.
In Guangzhou, prices edged down by 0.2 per cent while Shanghai stayed unchanged, NBS figures show. Transaction prices in the four cities in the secondary market rose by one per cent on average from a year ago.
Prices of pre-owned properties rose by 0.1 per cent in second-tier cities on a monthly basis, the same as in October, while in third-tier cities it went up by 0.3 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points on a monthly basis.
The growth rate of used home prices in second-tier cities has declined for seven months in a row, and that of third-tier cities for eight consecutive months.
“Prices of pre-owned homes fell in more than 30 cities during October and November, indicating a turning point for the property market,” said Centaline Property Agency Ltd chief analyst Zhang Dawei. The tendency will continue into this month if the existing tightening policies continue, Zhang said.
Centaline data shows that as many as 160 tightening measures targeted at the property market were announced in the fourth quarter to date, and in the first 11 months there were some 554 real estate restriction policies, 30 per cent more than the same period last year.
CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
