Decline in Chinese home prices persisted in November, with sluggish demand countering Beijing’s support measures

Name: China housing: Can the world’s biggest housing market boom again?
Uploaded: 2022-12-15T06:36:53.000Z
Duration: 11 min 5 s
Description: China housing: Can the world’s biggest housing market boom again?

The prices of new homes in 70 medium and large cities slipped 0.2 per cent on average last month, data released on Thursday shows

The recovery in China’s property sector will be gradual and bumpy, Goldman analysts say

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China housing: Can the world’s biggest housing market boom again?

Yulu Ao

Published: 2:36pm, 15 Dec 2022

Home prices in major Chinese cities continued to decline in November, according to the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, with Beijing’s support measures taking time to boost sales in a slowing economy.

The prices of new homes in 70 medium and large cities slipped 0.2 per cent on average last month, the data released on Thursday shows. New home prices fell in 51 of the 70 cities, seven cities fewer than in October. The number of cities reporting a monthly drop in the prices of lived-in homes remained the same as October at 62.

The NBS data also shows that the total value of transactions involving new homes in the first 11 months of this year dropped 26.6 per cent year on year to 11.86 trillion yuan (US$1.7 trillion).

The decline in prices follows a series of rescue measures launched by Beijing in November to support the housing sector on the supply side. These measures included loans and equity financing to solve the liquidity crisis at indebted developers, which was seen as a turning point for real estate by industry players. But home sales remain a key factor for a recovery by the sector, analysts said.

“The adjustment of Covid-19 measures, to some extent, impacted market transactions,” said Liu Lijie, an analyst with Beike Research Institute. The downturn in real estate this year followed rapid growth over the past few decades and has been worsened by the developers’ liquidity crisis and the pandemic, she said. The easing of Covid-19 restrictions is expected to boost market sentiment and Beijing’s support policies will take time to have an impact, Liu added.