China’s housing market is still struggling to halt a four-year slump as prices of new and second-hand homes in 70 major cities continued to fall in the new year, underpinning calls by property analysts for more support measures to boost confidence and sales.
Prices of new homes in first-tier cities fell 3.4 per cent in January from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, following a 3.8 per cent drop in December. Prices in second and third-tier cities declined at an annual pace of 5 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, compounding losses in December.
Among the top cities, prices in Beijing decreased by 0.4 per cent sequentially in January, the bureau said, while Shanghai and Shenzhen recorded a 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent gain, respectively. Prices in Guangzhou were unchanged from December.
“The extended price decline in 2025 lends further support to our long-held view that the property meltdown in China has yet to end, and its fiscal system needs a revamp,” analysts at Nomura Holdings said in a report.
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Boom, bust and borrow: Has China’s housing market tanked?
Boom, bust and borrow: Has China’s housing market tanked?
The situation suggests Beijing’s attempts to revive the market, including giving more room for local governments to craft their incentive plans, have yet to generate desired results as confidence among homebuyers remained fragile. While a DeepSeek-led stock rally has improved equity wealth, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley said more stimulus would be needed to revive the economy.