China's home prices continue to rise
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, April 18, 2016
The property sector has been a significant supporting force for China's economic growth.
Prolonged weakness in this sector and growth deceleration in property investment are believed to be a major risk to the Chinese economy and the main factors behind the overall sluggish demand.
China's housing market started to recover in the second half of 2015 after cooling for more than a year, boosted by government support measures, including interest rate cuts and lower deposit requirements.
In February, taxes on some property transactions were slashed and further reductions to the minimum downpayments for eligible first- and second-time home buyers were announced.
"Although China's metropolises reported sharp price increases, markets in many smaller cities remained stable," said Liu Jianwei, a senior NBS statistician .
The weakness in lower-tier cities was mainly caused by the persistent supply glut after substantial investment over the years following the 2008 global financial crisis.
There was about 735.2 million square meters of finished but unsold properties across China at the end of March, down some 4.2 million square meters from the end of February, according to the NBS.
On an annual basis, however, the inventory was still 13.1 percent higher than the same period in 2015.
China included property inventory reduction as one of its five priorities for 2016.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)