Housing and fuel prices fall, easing inflation

A fall in house prices in September and a new cut in fuel costs indicate that inflationary pressures are set to ease in coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported. Housing prices in 100 of China’s largest cities fell 0.03% month-on-month in September, marking the first overall decline this year, according to data provider China Real Estate Index System. Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s economic planner, cut fuel prices over the weekend in an effort to “help lower social costs, alleviate overall price-level pressures and stimulate relatively fast and stable economic growth.” High imported energy costs have bedeviled Beijing’s efforts to cool inflation this year, despite slowing domestic growth. Even so, some analysts expect the housing and fuel price declines to have only a modest impact on the Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation that is more directly influenced by food prices.