Sales of new homes in China fell marginally in July on an annual basis after rising for 17 consecutive months, the E-house China R&D Institute report revealed.
Overall, new residential transactions across 30 major cities dropped by 9.7 percent to 14.77 million sq m. Of this, 2.67 million sq m were sold in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou – down 22.9 percent from June and 24.2 percent over last year.
Separately, Shenzhen saw the highest month-on-month decline of 32.2 percent, followed by Shanghai (29.4 percent), Beijing (25.8 percent) and Guangzhou (5.7 percent).
Moreover, a China Index Academy report indicated that home prices increased at a slower pace between the January to July period compared to January to June, down two percentage points to 6,097 yuan psm (S$1,247).
At the same time, most experts believe the government will not introduce additional cooling measures as there was no mention of any regulations in the most recent central government meeting. But they have differing forecasts on whether home prices will move up or down.
Researcher Yan Yuejin from E-house China R&D Institute explained that “potential home buyers are very cautious about making a decision in the current trendless market. They are taking a wait-and-see stance”.
But a recent study conducted by Standard Chartered Plc revealed that property developers are bullish, with 29 out of 30 Chinese home-builders anticipating a rise in home prices, while 23 expect a 10 percent hike in the next six months.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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