China Home Prices Decline for 13th Consecutive Month in September
China Home Prices Fall for 13th Month as Property Woes Persist
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, as reported in Bloomberg News, home prices in China sank for the 13th consecutive month in September. New-home prices in 70 cites, excluding state-subsidized housing, dropped 0.28% from August (where they fell 0.29%). The existing home (second-hand) markets experienced even steeper declines, falling 0.39%, the most since October 2014.
Despite a wave of measures to restore confidence in China’s housing market, it remains fragile—battered by the “Covid zero” policy and a debt crisis among cash-strapped developers. According to the report, separate government figures showed home sales and property investment continued to fall in September, though the pace of declines slowed.
To improve the situation Chinese authorities have loosened home ownership rules, trimmed interest rates, and urged banks to step up lending in a bid to revive the ailing property market, which remains a drag on the world’s second largest economy.
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