Housing prices in first-tier cities continued to rise month-on-month in September, while the decline in second-tier and third-tier cities narrowed

China News Service, Beijing, October 19 (Reporter Pang Wuji) With the arrival of the traditional peak sales season, the trend of housing prices in China's large and medium-sized cities "stopping falling and stabilizing, and narrowing the decline" in September became clearer.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on the 19th showed that in September, among 70 large and medium-sized cities in China, the sales price of commercial housing in first-tier cities continued to rise month-on-month, while the month-on-month decrease in second- and third-tier cities generally narrowed; the year-on-year decrease in first-, second- and third-tier cities all narrowed.

Housing prices in first-tier cities are relatively strong. Data show that in September, the sales price of newly built commercial housing in first-tier cities increased by 0.1% month-on-month, the same increase as last month. The sales price of second-hand housing in first-tier cities increased by 0.2% month-on-month, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The year-on-year declines in housing prices for new and second-hand homes in first-tier cities both narrowed.

The year-on-month decline in housing prices in second- and third-tier cities generally narrowed. Data show that in September, the sales prices of new commercial housing and second-hand housing in second-tier cities stopped falling or narrowed the decline from the previous month; the sales prices of new commercial housing and second-hand housing in third-tier cities fell at the same month-on-month rate as last month. From a year-on-year perspective, the year-on-year declines in sales prices of newly built commercial housing in second- and third-tier cities in September narrowed by 0.3 and 0.2 percentage points respectively; while the year-on-year declines in second-hand housing prices in second- and third-tier cities narrowed by 0.4 and 0.2 percentage points respectively.

That month, among the 70 large and medium-sized cities, 17 cities saw a month-on-month increase in the sales price of new commercial housing, an increase of 2 from the previous month; there were 9 cities in which the sales price of second-hand housing increased month-on-month, an increase of 6 from the previous month.

Li Yujia, chief researcher of the Guangdong Provincial Housing Policy Research Center, pointed out that housing prices in first-tier and other core cities have shown an obvious stabilization trend. Cities with rising prices of new homes in September were mainly in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and inland provincial capital cities; month-on-month increases in second-hand housing prices were also concentrated in cities such as the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.

That month, second-hand housing prices in the four first-tier cities all increased month-on-month. Li Yujia believes that the decline in listings, the stabilization of low-priced listings, and the beginning of replacement demand have driven the continued recovery of second-hand housing prices in first-tier cities. October is a critical period for developers to strive for full-year performance. As fiscal interest discounts and other policies drive active transactions in low- and medium-priced second-hand houses, the price stabilization and recovery of second-hand houses is also expected to appear. (over)