The transaction value of homes sold in China dropped 21 percent in April, after the central government expanded its cooling measures to curb the risk of asset bubbles.
Based on Statistics Bureau data, China’s home sales transaction value fell to 324.9 billion yuan (S$61.6 billion) in April, from 413.6 billion yuan in March.
Johnson Hu, a Hong Kong-based property analyst at CIMB-GK Securities Research, said that “the government’s measures have started to take effect. This is in line with market sentiment, even though home prices remain high.”
China started to curb its property market last year and has continually implemented cooling measures, including higher minimum down payments for second-home purchases and residential property taxes in Chongqing and Shanghai this year. Premier Wen Jiabao said recently that the country is “determined” to curb housing prices in some cities to a “reasonable” level.
According to the Statistics Bureau, values of homes sold in the country climbed 11 percent in the first four months of 2011 to 1.2 trillion yuan, while the total value of property transactions rose 13 percent to 1.4 trillion yuan from a year ago.
Sheng Laiyun, a Statistics Bureau spokesman, said that “the property measures have achieved preliminary effects.”
Meanwhile, government data showed that property investment increased 34 percent to 1.3 trillion yuan in the first four months of the year. Mr. Hu said that the country’s plan to develop 10 million affordable housing helped fuel the investment.
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