Reduced decrease in 100 big cities a sign of market recovery: analysts<\/b><\/p>\n
Housing prices in 100 of China’s major cities dropped by 0.01 percent month-on-month in April, 0.14 percentage points lower than that in March, data showed Friday, a sign that the housing market is warming up.<\/p>\n
The average price of a new home in the 100 cities was 10,522 yuan ($1,695) per square meter in April, data from property research organization China Index Academy (CIA) showed.<\/p>\n
For the 10 biggest cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, new home prices increased 0.12 percent month-on-month to 18,961 yuan per square meter in the month, CIA data showed.<\/p>\n
Shenzhen recorded the highest monthly growth rate of 1.09 percent among the 10 biggest cities in April, according to the CIA.<\/p>\n
Home transactions have been picking up after the central government loosened the housing down-payment policy on March 30, Li Zhanjun, analyst from Shanghai-based housing market research firm E-house China, told the Global Times on Sunday.<\/p>\n
On March 30, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the country’s central bank, together with the housing and banking authorities, announced a relaxation on loan requirements.<\/p>\n
For home buyers with an outstanding mortgage who are applying for a mortgage for a second home, the minimum down payment was cut to 40 percent, from the previous level of 60 to 70 percent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the minimum down-payment rate for first-home buyers who use the public housing funds has been cut to 20 percent from 30 percent.<\/p>\n
Zhang Dawei, analyst from Beijing-based Centaline Property Research Center, said that the housing market is recovering more quickly in first-tier cities like Shenzhen and Beijing, where more people plan to buy a second home and could benefit from the lowered second-home mortgage rate.<\/p>\n
Though China’s second and third-tier cities are still suffering from oversupply in the housing sector, analysts noted that smaller cities would also see local housing market recovery after the policy boost.<\/p>\n
“Local governments will launch more policies to support the housing market as a way to boost the economy,” Li noted.<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Foshan, South China’s Guangdong Province, decided to stop reviews of home buyers’ qualifications starting on Friday, according to Guangzhou-based newspaper Nanfang Daily’s report Thursday, making Foshan the first city in Guangdong to lift the home purchase restrictions, the report said.<\/p>\n
Also, the central bank announced to lower the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 1 percentage point on April 19, the second time it has cut the RRR this year. The move was also seen as a positive step in helping real estate companies obtain financing, according to the CIA’s report.<\/p>\n
The PBC has also cut the interest rate once this year.<\/p>\n
Zhang said the home prices will continue to rebound in the next few months under these supportive policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reduced decrease in 100 big cities a sign of market recovery: analysts Housing prices in 100 of China’s major cities dropped by 0.01 percent month-on-month in April, 0.14 percentage points lower than that in March, data showed Friday, a sign that the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-2839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsofchina","tag-null"],"yoast_head":"\n