China's new home prices stabilise as rate cut, lifeline funding lift market confidence
Home prices in major cities in mainland China stabilised, holding onto recent gains as lower borrowing costs and state-led measures to support developers helped inject confidence in the market.
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Prices of new homes in China's four first-tier cities were unchanged in April from a month ago,
following a 0.1 per cent rise in March, according to data covering 70 large and medium-sized cities published by the statistics bureau on Monday. Prices in second-tier cities were also unchanged, while those in third-tier cities slipped 0.2 per cent, it added.
Beijing and Shanghai recorded a 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent gain, respectively, while those in Guangzhou and Shenzhen declined 0.2 and 0.1 per cent, the report showed.
'This marks a phased victory for cities at all levels,' said Yan Yuejin, vice-president of E-House China Real Estate Research Institute in Shanghai. 'Continued momentum will be needed in the second quarter' to sustain the market recovery over the past seven months, he added.
08:23
China unveils policy package to guard against US tariffs ahead of trade talks in Switzerland
China unveils policy package to guard against US tariffs ahead of trade talks in Switzerland
China's central bank cut the mortgage rate on housing provident funds by
a quarter-point cut on May 7 for first-time homebuyers, bringing it down to a record low 2.6 per cent. The nation's commercial banks have also approved
6.7 trillion yuan (US$929 billion) of loans to 'whitelist' housing projects to date, covering nearly 16 million homes, it added.
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