China’s housing market weakened again in July, more cities saw home prices decline
China’s housing market weakened again in July, more cities saw home prices decline

China’s housing market weakened again in July, more cities saw home prices decline

 

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China’s housing market, after a brief recovery in June, resumed the downtrend in July, with more cities seeing home prices decline from the previous month, as a mortgage boycott crisis dampened market confidence

New home prices in the four tier-one cities grew by 0.3% in July from the previous month, slowing by 0.2 percentage point in June, while second-hand home prices in the cities grew by 0.2% on month in July, compared to 0.1% growth in the prior month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

New home prices in tier-two cities remained unchanged in July from the previous month, compared to 0.1% gain in June, while second-hand home prices in the cities fell by 0.2% on month in July, compared to 0.1% growth in the prior month, according to the NBS.

In smaller tier-three cities, new home and second-hand home prices both fell 0.3% in July from the previous month, unchanged from the declines in June, showed the data.

Among the 70 major cities, 40 cities aw new home prices decline in July from the prior month, compared to 38 in June, while 30 cities saw new home prices grow, compared to 31 in June. In the second-hand market, 51 cities saw price decline in July from the previous month, up from 48 in June, while 19 cities saw price rise, compared to 21 in June.

The downtrend came after the housing market showed brief signs of stabilization in June. “The recovery was interrupted by the widespread mortgage boycott crisis which dampened market confidence,” said Chen Xiao, senior analyst at Zhege Zhaofang.

In July, home buyers of more than 300 property projects across China threatened to stop paying mortgages for the properties they purchased have been left unfinished amid the liquidity crunch in the real estate sector. Related …

Chinese local governments have been relaxing property curbs to support the struggling housing market, but so far the effect have been limit. According to data compiled by Centalne Property, as of the end of June, local governments had adjusted property policies by 580 times this years, rising by 70% from a year earlier and marking a new record high.

“Despite the stepped-up policy easing for the real estate market, market confidence hasn’t fully recovered, and the market still need more policy measures such as lowering mortgage rates and resolve risks in unfinished projects,” said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centraline Property.