China: Growth in house prices decelerates in September
House prices in 70 large- and medium-sized cities increased 0.4% in September in month-on-month terms according to a weighted average index calculated by Refinitiv from data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The print was below the 0.6% rise in August. According to the NBS, the sale price of newly constructed residential buildings increased in 55 of the 70 cities (59 in August).
House prices increased 4.6% annually in September, below the 4.8% rise in August. Annual average growth in house prices fell from 6.0% in August to 5.7% in September.
Putting July’s reading in context, Ting Lu, Lisheng Wang and Jing Wang, economists at Nomura, noted:
“Beijing’s tougher stance on the property sector, including restrictive measures by some local housing authorities and a tightening of property financing, may have started to weigh on property markets. However, as China has not yet fully recovered from the pandemic, we believe Beijing cannot afford to over-tighten property sector policies.”