China property: second-hand home prices slip again with Beijing, Shanghai among market casualties

Name: Hong Kong has until 2049 to fix its housing crisis, but is it possible?
Uploaded: 2024-04-02T05:55:36.000Z
Duration: 10 min 8 s
Description: Hong Kong has until 2049 to fix its housing crisis, but is it possible?

Prices of pre-owned homes slipped in March, extending the back-to-back monthly decline from April 2022

Tier-one cities like Beijing and Shanghai were not spared as top developers struggled with cash flow problems

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Pedestrians cross a footbridge near residential buildings in Beijing, on March 3, 2024. Photo: Bloomberg

Yuke Xiein Beijing

Published: 1:55pm, 2 Apr 2024Updated: 3:14pm, 2 Apr 2024

China’s troubled property market is showing no sign of recovery after a two-year slump in home prices in major cities stretched into last quarter, suggesting buyers are waiting to see more cracks in the market while developers fend off one crisis after another. Beijing and Shanghai were not spared.

Prices of second-hand homes across 100 mainland cities fell 4.8 per cent to 15,088 yuan (US$2,087) per square metre on average in March from a year earlier, according to China Index Academy, a real estate research firm. They slipped 0.56 per cent from a month ago, extending a sequential drop that started in April 2022.

Prices declined in 98 of the cities from a month earlier. Ninety of them have suffered setbacks for 10 consecutive months, the academy added in a report published on Monday.

“There is an abundant supply of pre-owned homes in the market,” said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute. “If owners want to strike a deal, they need to accept hefty price cuts.”

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Hong Kong has until 2049 to fix its housing crisis, but is it possible?

The report added to earlier signs pointing to China’s fragile housing market and hesitance among homebuyers. Some of the nation’s biggest developers, from China Vanke to Country Garden and Wanda, have disclosed liquidity challenges this year as more debts come due, hurting market sentiment.