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| The residential luxury homes of Guangcai (top right) are seen in Beijing's Chaoyang district on September 29, 2016. (Photo / AFP) |
BEIJING - China's red-hot property market has shown more signs of cooling down following a series of targeted measures, as the country's economy grows on steady footing.
MILDER PRICE GAINS
Home prices in large and medium-sized cities still registered an uptick in October, but the growth pace was slower than September, evidence of nascent effects of recent tightening moves, experts said.
Breakdown figures showed that new home prices in first-tier cities such as Beijing as well as large second-tier cities across China edged up 0.5 percent and 1.3 percent in October month on month, with growth rates 2.8 percentage points and 1 percentage point lower than September, respectively, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said earlier this week.
Second-hand residential property sales reinforced the trend, as prices of existing homes in first- and second-tier cities rose 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent over the same period, with the growth rates 2.9 percentage points and 1.1 percentage points lower than September respectively.
China's red-hot property market has shown more signs of cooling down following a series of targeted measures
NBS senior statistician Liu Jianwei attributed the milder price gain to policies rolled out by different local governments to contain spiking prices.
The data were released on the heels of a slew of measures to rein in speculative housing purchases, check the risk of asset bubbles and stabilize the market, with dozens of Chinese cities modifying market rules including higher deposits and more restrictions.
Recent tightening moves have effectively halted the housing price spike trend and helped regulate the market order, said Liu Hongyu, a professor at Tsinghua University, adding that the long-term policy effects still deserve observation.
Sales volume for both new and existing homes continued to trend down in November at a faster pace, with the tightening moves starting to exert ripple effects for other cities that have not seen such moves, observed Cheng Yun, a senior analyst at Centaline Property, a leading Chinese real estate agency.
The view was echoed by Xia Dan, a senior researcher at the Bank of Communications, one of China's top five lenders, who predicted that housing sales will further decelerate in November.
