China’s home prices likely to keep dropping as investors lose confidence in economy, central bank survey finds

Name: Growing anger over China’s unfinished ‘rotten tail’ buildings: ‘We really need this home’
Uploaded: 2022-10-11T11:27:22.000Z
Duration: 7 min 21 s
Description: Growing anger over China’s unfinished ‘rotten tail’ buildings: ‘We really need this home’

Just 14.8 per cent of respondents in a consumer survey by the People’s Bank of China believe home prices could rise in the fourth quarter of this year

‘Developers and homeowners may have to mark down prices to get their properties sold,’ says You Liangzhou, who owns a property agency in Shanghai

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Chinese investors see no let-up in the depression that has engulfed the country’s property market. Photo: Bloomberg

Daniel Renin Shanghai

Published: 7:27pm, 11 Oct 2022

Chinese investors see no let-up in the depression that has engulfed the country’s property market, according to an official survey that is sure to heap more misery onto beleaguered developers and homeowners.

Just 14.8 per cent of respondents in a consumer survey by the People’s Bank of China believe home prices could rise in the fourth quarter of this year. The remaining 85.2 per cent are betting prices will either drop or stagnate.

The quarterly survey, released on Sunday, was the latest sign that the real estate sector, one of the cornerstones of China’s economy, is almost entirely drained of confidence after Beijing’s austerity measures and Covid-19 pandemic curbs sent it into a nosedive.

The previous survey, in the second quarter, found that 16.2 per cent respondents expected home prices to climb between July and September.

“People are less confident in buying homes, and many potential buyers are taking a wait-and-see attitude,” said You Liangzhou, who owns Baonuo, a property agency in Shanghai. “Developers and homeowners may have to mark down prices to get their properties sold.”

07:21

Growing anger over China’s unfinished ‘rotten tail’ buildings: ‘We really need this home’

According to the China Index Academy, one of the mainland’s largest property consultancies, the number of new homes changing hands was surprisingly weak during the National Day holiday between October 1 and 7, which is normally a high season for property sales.

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