Prices for new homes in China drop in record 64 cities

A record number of mainland cities reported a drop in new home prices last month, official data showed yesterday, indicating that the property market downturn is deepening despite the relaxation of curbs in an effort to stimulate demand.

New home prices fell month on month in 64 of the 70 cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics, beating the previous month's record of 55 cities. They remained flat in four other cities and were still on the rise in Xiamen, in Fujian province, and Dali, in Yunnan.

"As market outlook was still not clear in July, quite a few home buyers chose to wait and see, hence home prices continued to fall from June," senior statistician Liu Jianwei said.

Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, suffered the steepest monthly drop of 2.5 per cent, accelerating from a 1.8 per cent fall in June. It is one of more than 30 cities that have loosened home purchase restrictions in an attempt to stem the downturn.

But the latest data showed such efforts are only having a limited impact.

New home prices fell 1.3 per cent in Beijing last month, compared with a 0.1 per cent rise in June. They also dropped 1.4 per cent in Shanghai, 0.6 per cent in Shenzhen and 1.3 per cent in Guangzhou, all deepening from the previous month.