China’s new home prices extended a weak trend in August – falling 0.3 per cent month-over-month in 70 major cities – but showed a marginal improvement from a year earlier as state-led policies stabilised a persistently weak sector.
New home prices have been sliding since April, 2022, on a year-on-year basis but the decline is showing signs of narrowing, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.
Prices fell 3 per cent year-on-year in August, compared with a decline of 3.4 per cent in July and 3.7 per cent recorded in June, according to the data.
First-tier cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou saw prices fall 0.1 per cent last month, compared with a 0.2 per cent drop in July.
Shanghai, the mainland’s commercial capital, bucked the declining trend with a 0.4 per cent improvement. Prices fell across other first-tier cities.
Property prices in second-tier cities, meanwhile, fell 0.3 per cent in August while third-tier cities contracted by 0.4 per cent.