Four of China’s biggest cities reported a drop in the average price of pre-owned homes for the third consecutive month in November, indicating mounting pressure on the Chinese property market,as revealed in government data on Saturday.
In November, the average sales price of previously owned homes in China’s “Big Four” first-tier cities fell 0.4% from the previous month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. In September and October, this price fell 0.1% and 0.2%respectively.
The capital city was the first to lead the fall. It saw a monthly decline of 0.6% in the average price of an existing home in November, compared to a 0.2% decline the previous month,official data showed.
As opposed to new-home prices, which are heavily regulated as part of local government efforts to control property prices, “the prices of existing homes can better reflect the actual market situation, especially for the first- and second-tier cities,”said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property, as reported by Caixinglobal.
Many economists expect the market’s decline to continue into next year. Some said that policymakers were likely to relax control on the sector to allow some breathing room.
“Given the key role the property sector plays in driving growth, we believe Beijing will be pragmatic and eventually ease these distortionary interventions during or after the spring of 2019,” Nomura analysts said.