China’s real estate market expected to adjust in H2
CHINA’S rea l estate market is expected to usher in a new period of adjustment during the second half of t his year, Economic Information Daily reported.
Adhering to t he policy t hat “houses are for l iving, not for speculation”, loca l governments have kept dif ferentiated policies based on loca l conditions, and made obvious achievement in tightening control of t he rea l estate market.
The market saw pickup in March and April. However, it didn’t gat her enough momentum and showed some signs of cooling down in May, Wang Yeqiang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Socia l Sciences, said i n a signed art icle published by the newspaper.
Last month’s data a lso indicated the rebound is not stable, Wang said, adding t hat t he market is likely to enter a new period of adjustment.
During t he first five months of t his year, t he propert y market remained stable overa ll, wit h propert y sales measured by floor area showing negative grow th and sa le prices registering slower grow t h.
Between January and May, sales in commercial residential buildings reached 560 million square metres, down 1.6 per cent year-onyear. Among them, sales in residential buildings, office buildings and commercial buildings went down 0.7 per cent, 12.2 per cent and 12.9 per cent respectively.
Land purchase area and land prices experienced big declines. During t he first five months, the land areas purchased by propert y developers fel l 33.2 per cent from a year earl ier, t he biggest decline since 1998. Meanwhile, land prices fel l 35.6 per cent year-on-year, marking t he biggest drop since the data was released in 2004.
Hot investment in residentia l buildings and sluggish investment in commercial properties st ill continued.
Real estate investment increased 11.2 per cent year-on-year in t he first five months of t he year, according to t he data released by t he National Bureau of Statistics. The pace was slower than the 11.9 per cent expansion recorded i n t he Januar yApril period but was faster than t he 9.5 per cent grow t h seen last year.
Among them, investment in residentia l housing rose 16.3 per cent. However, investment in office building and commercial housing both saw negative grow th, registering -3.6 per cent and -9.7 per cent grow th respectively.
Wang said the real estate market should strengthen real-time monitoring, predictions and warnings. Some second- and third-tier cities saw a surge in housing prices as China’s urbanisation process gathered pace.
He said if t he price rise is supported by fundamenta ls, t he risk is controllable. If not, t he government should i mprove risk prevention.