NewShenzhen becomes most expensive Chinese city for new homes
Strongest price rise helps regain crown lost in March last year amid decline in sales
Shenzhen overtook Shanghai as the most expensive city in China for new homes last month after a surge since April, but sales softened, pointing to a possible turn in the market's trajectory.
New home prices in the city grew 7.84 per cent from June to 33,698 yuan per square metre.
The gain was the strongest among the 10 major cities tracked by the SCMP-Creda index, a collaboration between the South China Morning Post and consultancy China Real Estate Data Academy. That helped Shenzhen regain the crown after losing it in March last year as it swiftly responded to an industry downturn.
In between, Beijing sat at the top for two consecutive months and then Shanghai for 14.
Prices also rose in all other nine cities, including Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hangzhou. The pace was the slowest in Chengdu at 0.01 per cent.
"The market frenzy moderated in July," said Chen Sheng, the dean of the academy, as the impact from previous supportive policies waned and a slide in the stock market wiped trillions off family wealth, forcing some buyers of luxury homes to postpone their plans or cancel deals.
Combined sales in the 10 cities fell 9.6 per cent from June after four consecutive months of increases. Beijing was the only first-tier city that saw a gain, up 26 per cent to 1.3 million sq metres.