[photopress:real_estate_fluctations.jpg,full,alignright]The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports that China’s urban property prices rose 10.1% in April from a year earlier, slightly lower than in March.
The average property prices in 70 large- and medium-sized cities dipped by 0.6 percentage point in April from a month earlier. Last year, property prices rose 7.6% year-on-year.
Carlby Xie, head of research at the Colliers International’s Beijing branch, a real estate services company said, ‘Based on our statistics of the middle- and high-end markets, the recent price trend remains stable. I would call it ‘stagnant’ if we see the situation in terms of purchase price.’
Carlby Xie said people have remained reluctant to purchase houses, anticipating a price correction after the Olympic Games in August. And added, ‘The purchase sentiment could possibly rebound by the year-end.’
The NBS said urban fixed-assets investment rose 25.7% in the first four months year-on-year, compared with a 25.9% increase in the first quarter. Last year, the growth was 25.8%.
Song Yu and Liang Hong with Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong have calculated in a research note that investment in April was up 25.3% from a year earlier, compared with 27.3% in March.
They said the softening growth in April could have been distorted by the public holiday adjustments this year (the May Day ‘golden week’ has been replaced by three traditional holidays in April, June and September), which resulted in fewer working days in April of this year compared with last year.
Source: China Daily.com