Experts see home prices staying on a stable path

Prices of new and pre-owned homes in 70 Chinese cities continued to stabilize in March by and large－and industry experts credited the trend to a series of measures taken in recent months.

A few smaller cities, however, saw the prices decline month-on-month in March; on a year-on-year basis, prices either edged down or grew at a slower pace, said Sheng Guoqing, chief statistician with the National Bureau of Statistics' urban division.

New home prices in 38 out of the 70 major cities dropped month-on-month in March. In February, the corresponding figure was 40. Prices in three cities stayed flat. Those in 29 other cities rose in March. In February, prices rose in 27 cities, according to NBS data published on Friday.

New home prices in the four top-tier cities rose 0.3 percent on average month-on-month, with Shenzhen taking the lead with an increase of 0.8 percent, followed by Beijing (0.4 percent) and Shanghai (0.3 percent); but, Guangzhou prices slipped 0.1 percent. Year-on-year, benchmark cities' new home prices grew 4.3 percent, 0.1 percentage points lower than that of the previous month.

New home prices in the 31 second-tier cities tracked by the NBS remained unchanged on average month-on-month in March, but grew 1.6 percent year-on-year. New home prices in the 35 third-tier cities fell 0.2 percent month-on-month (down 0.6 percent year-on-year).

"Various cities' home markets are improving, regardless of their specific city tiers, but the progress is somehow weakened by the COVID-19 impact," said Li Yujia, chief researcher at the provincial residential policy research center of Guangdong.

New home prices in the nation's four biggest cities rose for three consecutive months, contributing to market stability. Their growth, however, slowed in the past two months due to the COVID-19 resurgence in Shenzhen and Shanghai, Li said.

Experts attributed the overall improved performance to adjustments to regulations and fresh measures like better credit supply to satisfy reasonable financing and rational homebuying.

More than 70 cities have rolled out new residential property policies to stabilize local markets since the beginning of the year. The mortgage interest rate was cut in more than 100 cities nationwide in March, said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property Agency Ltd.

He also said that with more cities set to adopt similar policies, the home market is likely to gradually stabilize further in the coming months.

The pre-owned home market performance traced a curve similar to that of the new home market. Prices in 21 cities rose in March, compared with 10 in February. Four cities reported no change, but prices fell in 45 cities, in contrast to 57 in February.