China House’s Market Reduces Prices

Despite the slow down in the pace of prices of houses, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday that the downward trend continues in May.  

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By April, house prices had dropped for 47 out of 70 cities, which can be compared with May as only 43 cities had seen the decrease, according to data from NBS. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou were four first-tier cities that edged up 0.4 percent month on month in May, representing a 0.2 percentage point compared with April.

The Chinese NBS said that data indicated a month-on-month decline of 0.1 percent in new home prices for the 31 second-tier cities, while the month-on-month decline of 35 third-tier cities' home prices decreased a 0.3 percent.
 
Regarding the resale home prices, the data showed that they remained unchanged. In the meantime, second and third-tier cities decreased gradually by 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

The research director at E-house China R&D Institute, Yan Yuejin, said that "the month-on-month decline in housing prices seems to be contained in May, mainly because of the stimulus measures taken by the governments to stabilize the slowing property market."

To revive the housing market, affected by the resurgences of COVID-19, the central bank approved last month the cut of its benchmark rate for mortgages, several days after it lowered the mortgage rate floor for first-time home buyers.

"Stabilizing measures aiming to stimulate people's home demand and lower mortgage rates working to reduce residents' burdens all helped prop up the market," told the NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui.