China’s home prices had the steepest annual decline in nine years last month, as state measures to ease mortgage-financing burdens and spur consumption failed to elevate the mood in the nation’s property market.
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The prices of new homes fell for the 15th consecutive month, dropping 5.7 per cent across 70 cities on the mainland from a year earlier, marking the biggest monthly slump since May 2015. The decline widened from the 5.3 per cent drop in July, according to SCMP’s calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday.
Prices contracted by 0.3 per cent last month in four of China’s so-called Tier 1 cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – often used as the barometer for the nation’s economic growth, according to the data.
Declines were sharper in Tier 2 cities such as Tianjin, Dalian and Wuhan, where new home prices fell by 0.7 per cent last month, following the 0.6 per cent drop in July. The smallest 35 cities in the sample set fared the worst, as prices fell 0.8 per cent in such locations as Yangzhou, Huizhou and Dali last month, widening from the 0.7 per cent drop in July and the 0.6 per cent contraction in June.
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A look into China’s real estate market: unpaid workers and silent construction sites
A look into China’s real estate market: unpaid workers and silent construction sites
The report underscores concerns about China’s housing market slump, stoking speculation for Beijing to cut mortgage rates to spur demand or ease repayment burdens. Beijing’s 300 billion yuan (US$41.9 billion) relending facility to buy unsold homes from struggling developers has done little so far to repair confidence.