China home sales show mixed results after cooling measures
Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics show residential sales' values jumped 57 per cent year-on-year last month, but were down 13 per cent month-on-month.
Mainland home sales have shown mixed results - led by declines in Beijing transactions - in the wake of the latest policy measures rolled out by municipal governments to curb demand and price growth.
"We think [Beijing] was primarily dragged down by the local authority's strict regulation on pre-sales permits," wrote Alvin Wong, a property analyst at Nomura.
But given increasing supply coming on stream, Wong said he expected sales to resume stronger growth momentum in the second half of the year.
Across the nation, mainland property data over the first four months of this year was satisfactory, with sales momentum remaining resilient and new starts resuming a positive growth.
Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics show residential sales' values jumped 57 per cent year-on-year last month, but were down 13 per cent month-on-month.
Average selling prices were up 20 per cent year-on-year at 6,346 yuan (HK$7,939) per square metre and construction starts on new homes rose 2 per cent. Investment jumped 22 per cent last month from a year earlier.
Land purchases were up 50 per cent from a year ago, but down 9 per cent year-on-year, and as of last month funding resources for developers increased 34 per cent year-on-year, exceeding 10 per cent growth for the eighth consecutive month.
Jefferies Equity Research Asia said mortgage loans and domestic debt jumped 68 per cent year-on-year and 27 per cent year- on- year respectively due to credit easing and strong pre-sales. "We reaffirm our positive view on the sector given the liquidity easing, volume growth and potential margin improvement on average selling price hike," it said.
Sales performance between the strong and the weak developers diverged further. On average, Jefferies said, major developers have locked in 32 per cent of their pre-sale targets, compared to 23 per cent last year.
It said weekly transaction volume in 32 key cities increased 44 per cent week-on-week and 64 per cent year-on-year, as 29 cities saw growth and only three cities experienced declines.
