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New home prices rose at a slightly faster monthly pace in August in
China as the sector continued to recover on the back of resurgent
consumer demand, according to official data released on Monday. Industry experts said, though the peak season for real estate sales
has arrived in China, prices may not see too much of upward fluctuations
as the tightening measures will help keep prices under control, experts
said. Led by Huizhou in Guangdong province, 59 of the 70 cities tracked by
the National Bureau of Statistics reported a growth in new home prices
in August, same as that of July. Overall, the 70 Chinese cities reported
a 0.6 percent growth in new home prices on a monthly basis and by 4.7
percent on a yearly basis. "Home prices have remained largely stable with marginal growth. Most
of the local governments have been strictly following the central
government's directive that housing is for living in and not for
speculation and taking timely steps to ensure that the long-term
mechanisms are effective," said Kong Peng, chief statistician of the
NBS. Tight curbs on home prices in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, had an
overflow effect and partly drove up home prices in the nearby Huizhou
city, said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research
and Development Institution. Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui
autonomous region, saw the biggest growth in new home prices on a yearly
basis among the 70 major cities tracked by the NBS. New home prices of the four benchmark first-tier cities rose by 0.6
percent on a monthly basis, with Guangzhou posting a growth of 0.9
percent, followed by Beijing and Shanghai at 0.6 percent, and Shenzhen
with 0.5 percent, compared with the levels seen in July. On a yearly
basis, the four top-tier cities saw a 3.9 percent growth in new home
prices, according to NBS data. In the pre-owned home market, Guangzhou saw the highest growth in
transaction prices of 1.7 percent among the four top-tier cities. It was
followed by Shenzhen with 1.1 percent, Shanghai at 0.8 percent and
Beijing with 0.7 percent. Forty-seven of the 70 cities reported growth in pre-owned home transaction prices, two more than the previous month. A majority of the cities saw price hikes as the existing policies are
focused on stabilizing the home market and the arrival of the golden
season for the home market in September and October will keep the
residential market on a slight uptrend, said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst
at Centaline Property Agency Ltd. Zhang said the comparatively loose regulations on the home market
during the first half of the year due to the COVID-19 epidemic effect
has come to an end and it is clear that the central government intends
to maintain stability in the real estate market through tighter
regulations. Xu Xiaole, chief market analyst with Beike Real Estate Research
Institute, said he does not anticipate a home price hike and said the
marginal spike seen in major cities are part of market fluctuations due
to the resilient demand and improved financing. "About 10 cities have already issued macroeconomic policies since
July and home prices are expected to remain steady in the subsequent
months of the year," said Xu. Zhang from Centaline expects 30 cities to announce new restrictions on home purchases soon. According to NBS data, new home and pre-owned home prices remained
stable in 31 second-tier cities or saw slower growth rates for 16 months
in a row, while 35 thirdtier cities saw 17 consecutive months of
unchanged prices or marginal declines in home prices.
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