China’s second-hand home prices declined further in July, prices in lower-tier cities fell at faster pace
DATA FEATURES
China’s second-hand home prices declined further in July, prices in lower-tier cities fell at faster pace
DATA FEATURES

China’s second-hand home prices declined further in July, prices in lower-tier cities fell at faster pace

 

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Second-hand home prices in China’s tier-two cities declined slightly in July, and prices in lower-tier cities dropped at a faster pace, amid

Average second-hand home prices in China’s 100 major cities stood at 16,012 yuan per square meter in July, edging down 0.09% from the previous month, expanding slightly by 0.07 percentage points from the month before, showed the data from the China Index Academy, one of leading independent real estate research firms in China.

Among the 100 cities, 69 saw second-hand home prices decline month on month, compared to 58 in June, showed the data.

The falling prices came as home transactions remained subdued last month. Data from the E-House China R&D Institute showed that second-hand transaction volume in 14 major cities amounted to about 72,000 units in July, a drop of 5.5% from a month earlier amid Covid-19 flare-ups and weak market confidence.

Separate data from Zhuge Zhaofang showed that average second-hand home prices in tier-one cities stood at 56,687 yuan per square meter in July, rising by 0.69% from the month before, slowing by 0.12 percentage point from June.

Average second-hand home prices in tier-two cities stood at 19,196 yuan per square meter, rising by 0.19% from a month earlier, slowing by 0.06 percentage point from June, showed Zhuge Zhaofang’s data.

However, in smaller tier-three and tier-four cities, average home prices stood at 10,028 yuan per square mter, falling by 0.59% from the previous month, expanding by 0.42 percentage point from June, showed the data, with the top ten cities with the steepest decline were all tier-three and tier-four cities.

Since 2022, tier-three and tier-four cities have frequently relaxed property curbs and the policy measures have yet to yield notable positive results and the cities’ housing market still face mounting challenges due to weak local economies and market demand, it said.

According to data from Centaline Property, as of the end of June, local governments have relaxed property policies by 460 times this year, surging by 61% from a year earlier and marking a new record high from the same period.

China Index Academy estimated that housing policies will continue to ease before the market stabilizes.

Local governments are expected to step up supports to the housing market, with restrictions on home purchases, mortgage loans and home resales expected to be eased further, while restrictions in tier-three and tier-four cities could be completely removed, it said.