For the first time since record-keeping began in 2011, secondhand home prices fell across all 70 of China’s major cities for two consecutive months—a sweeping downturn that underscores the persistent strain in the country’s property market and the failure of the traditional “Silver October” sales season—a typically robust period for real estate—to deliver, reports Caixin. In October, prices in China’s four top-tier cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen—fell an average of 0.9% from the previous month, according to data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Beijing led the downturn with a 1.1% drop. Prices in 31 second-tier cities slid 0.6% on average, while those in 35 third-tier cities declined by 0.7%.
The price drops came alongside a retreat in transaction volume. Following a brief uptick in September, existing-home sales in the first-tier cities resumed their decline. In Beijing, transactions fell 23.7% from the previous month to 12,087 units, while Shanghai posted a 9.3% drop to 18,483 units, including commercial properties, according to data from China Real Estate Information. Shenzhen’s sales fell 7.7%.
The secondhand market is widely viewed as a more accurate gauge of housing demand than the new-home market, where official price caps can distort data. The continued fall in both prices and transactions underscores the depth of the property downturn and suggests government support measures have yet to rebuild buyer confidence.