China new home prices rise at slower pace in February, survey shows

Greentown China Holdings

01/03/2024 03:46

BEIJING, March 1 (Reuters) - New home prices in China
rose at a slightly slower pace in February versus a month
earlier, a private survey showed on Friday, reflecting continued
struggle in a property sector where government support measures
are yet to reinvigorate sales.
    The average new home price across 100 cities rose 0.14%,
compared with an on-month gain of 0.15% in January, showed data
from real estate researcher China Index Academy.
    The number of cities that reported home price growth was
nine less than in the previous month.
    The southern mega-city of Shenzhen, which logged price rises
in January after benefiting from easing market policies,
experienced the steepest price drop in February at 0.28%.
    Total sales by value among 100 real estate companies plunged
51.6% year-on-year in the first two months of the year, showed a
separate China Index Academy survey.
    The top three property developers in terms of sales volume
were Poly Developments and Holdings Group  600048.SS , China
Vanke  000002.SZ  and Greentown China Holdings  3900.HK .
    China has been ramping up measures to halt a downturn in a
property sector that has lurched from one extreme to the other
since 2021 after a regulatory crackdown on high leverage.
    Authorities in January launched a "whitelist" mechanism,
asking state banks to boost lending to residential projects.
    As of Feb. 28, 276 cities in 31 provinces have set up such
mechanisms, with about 6,000 real estate projects proposed for
financing, and commercial banks approving loans of over 200
billion yuan ($27.79 billion) for eligible projects, housing and
financial regulators said on Thursday.
    The government will hold its annual "Two Sessions" meetings
next week, with market participants looking to the parliamentary
meeting starting on 5 March for policy direction.
    After Two Sessions, authorities may step up support for the
property sector, including easing home purchase restrictions,
lowering down payment ratios and mortgage interest rates, and
increasing implementation of financing support policies for real
estate enterprises, China Index Academy said.
    
    ($1 = 7.1967 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by
Christopher Cushing)
 ((gao.liangping@thomsonreuters.com;))