Housing sales surge 54% in the first week of March

By Zhu Wenqian (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-03-11 11:04

Potential homebuyers visit a housing expo in Zhengzhou, Henan province. China will stabilize property market with tailored, market-based policies to guide 'stable and healthy development', Premier Li's Government Work Report said on March 5, 2015. [Provided to China Daily]

Housing sales nationwide recorded a surge in the first week of March compared with the previous week, with transactions up 53.6 percent to 37,690 apartments, according to data from Centaline Property Agency Ltd.

The uptick could strengthen a property market recovery that began in the fourth quarter.

The China Index Academy said that among the 40 cities it mainly tracked, property sales by floor areas have been rising at 51.6 percent month-on-month.

"Some cities are expected to see booming property sales by the second half of March. Despite the transactions are lower than the pre-spring festival period. The market is likely to be stimulated after the latest interest rate cut," said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline. "Home buyers are more confident with the confirmed favorable property policies, especially in the cities with strong market fundamentals."

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China to stabilize property market in 2015, by Xinhua

China will stabilize its property market this year, with tailored, market-based policies to guide "stable and healthy development," according to the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang Thursday.

China's property market began to see prices and sales volume slump last year, prompting authorities to loosen regulations previously put in place to rein in skyrocketing prices fueled by speculative buying.

The correction forced property investment growth to slide to 10.5 percent last year from 19.8 percent in 2013, dampening demand for commodities ranging from iron ore to copper, and dragging down headline growth.

The government set its annual economic growth target to "around 7 percent" this year, down from 7.5 percent last year. The world's second largest economy slowed to a 24 year low of 7.4 percent during the same period.