China's real estate sector cooled down further in April, with concerns mounting over its drag on the country's overall economy.
Among 70 major cities, eight saw month-on-month price declines in the new-home market last month, double that for March, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on Sunday.
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Hangzhou, the provincial capital of East China's Zhejiang province, saw the biggest price drop of 0.7 of a percent from the previous month.
In the pre-owned market, prices rose in 35 cities on a month-on-month basis, notably down from 42 in March and 46 in February, NBS data showed.
For Huang Jinlao, vice-president of Huaxia Bank, this round of home price correction is market-driven rather than policy-led.
In addition to a boost in the government's subsidized housing and the oversupply in some smaller cities, banks' unwillingness to offer mortgages to home buyers is another major reason for a cool-down in the real estate sector, according to Huang.
The average annual yield of wealth management products stands at a range of 5 to 6 percent, compared with a favorable mortgage rate of 5.9 percent for first-time home buyers. The interbank offering rate hit 6.8 percent in December, which means banks' investment in other fields will be more lucrative than offering mortgages.