China's home prices to remain stable in 2020

BEIJING: China's home prices in major cities will remain stable in 2020, said the latest report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- would hold steady after slightly edging down on average, while that in some places might rise, said the report.

Second-tier cities will witness both growth and decline in home prices, but radical changes are not likely to occur, according to the CASS. In third- and fourth-tier cities, home prices will generally fall. The report noted that slower economic growth would affect the speed of urbanization and confidence in the real estate market.

However, the endogenous impetus of economic growth still exists despite the slower pace, which might lead to the "soft landing" of home prices, said the report.

The report suggested that the central government insists on the principle that "housing is for living in, not for speculation," and maintain the stability of credit scale in the real estate market. China's building materials sector saw profit improve during the first nine months of the year, official data showed.

Profits hit 323.4 billion yuan ($ 46 billion) during the nine months, up 12.2 percent year on year, according to data from the National Development and Reform Commission.

In breakdown, profits of the cement industry jumped by 25.3 percent from a year earlier, but the flat glass sector registered a year-on-year profit decline of 24.8 percent. Data also showed that the output of China's building materials sector expanded steadily during the period. The output of cement and flat glass gained 6.9 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, China's natural gas import posted slower growth in October, data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) showed.