BEIJING/HONG KONG: China’s new home prices rose in August at the slowest pace in seven months and fell or levelled off in more cities as government cooling measures dampened speculation, though there were no signs of a sharper correction that could damage the economy.
Signs of a more stable and less frothy housing market, which is a key driver of economic growth, will be good news for the Communist Party as it prepares for a key meeting next month. Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities rose 0.2 per cent in August, half the pace of the previous month, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Monday.
It’s the first time in three years that prices in the 15 hottest markets singled out by the NBS — mostly mega-cities and provincial capitals — have all stopped rising on a monthly basis after nearly six months of intensified controls, analysts noted.
“The turning point for Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities has emerged,” Zhang Dawei, a Beijing-based senior analyst at property agency Centaline, wrote in a note. The Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese property developers jumped after the news.
China’s top three developers by sales, Country Garden, China Vanke and China Evergrande rose 4.28 per cent, 0.4 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively as of 0300 GMT.
“The data made investors a little more comfortable,” said Conita Hung, investment strategy director of Gransing Securities Ltd. — Reuters
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