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November 1, 2014

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Home » Business » Real Estate

New home prices see slower fall

DECLINES in China’s new home prices slowed in October, a survey showed yesterday, though figures still fell for a sixth straight month as property woes weigh on growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

The average price of a new home in 100 major cities was 10,629 yuan (US$1,738) per square meter in October, down 0.4 percent from September, the China Index Academy said in a statement.

The decline was smaller than the 0.92 percent fall recorded in September. Still, prices have remained negative since May, as analysts say China’s flagging property sector is contributing to growth slowdown in the broader economy.

China’s economy grew 7.3 percent in the third quarter, below the 7.5 percent expansion in the previous three months and the slowest since the depths of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, the government said earlier in October.

Among the country’s 10 biggest cities, six saw declines in October from the previous month, the report showed, with Hangzhou falling the most at 2.58 percent to 16,166 yuan per square meter.

Prices in Beijing, meanwhile, gained 0.69 percent to 32,504 yuan per square meter, the CIA said, marking the biggest rise among the four top 10 cities that saw gains.

“As a whole, housing prices in main cities nationwide remain in a downward interval, but this month the extent of the drop decreased,” CIA, the research unit of real estate website operator Soufun, said.

Year-on-year, prices in the 100 surveyed cities fell 0.52 percent in October from the same month last year, snapping 22 straight annual increases, the CIA said.

In recent years China has sought to rein in runaway property prices — a source of discontent among ordinary citizens — by introducing market control measures including buying limits on second and third homes.

But local governments make much of their income from land sales to developers so price declines negatively affect their revenues and have pushed them to loosen curbs to cope.




 

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