Slowing prices puts China housing on "dangerous brink"

The price of new homes in 26 cities in China either stalled or fell in April compared to the month before, the biggest slowdown in more than a year and a half, Bloomberg reported. National housing prices climbed 9.1% in April compared to a year earlier, slowing for a fourth month. Home-price growth moderated both in first-tier and less-affluent cities. Prices in Beijing rose 0.1% from March, while Shanghai prices increased 0.3%. “China’s property market is on a very dangerous brink,” said Xu Gao, chief economist at Everbright Securities. The real estate slowdown has prompted local municipal governments to relax property curbs.