BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s new home prices fell 0.3% in August from the previous month, official data showed on Monday, as weakness in demand persisted, indicating that the housing market remained a drag on growth.
The figure, calculated by Reuters from National Bureau of Statistics data, matched July’s month-on-month decline and extended a weak trend that has persisted since May 2023.
On an annual basis, new home prices dropped 2.5% in August, narrowing from a 2.8% decline in July.
China’s real estate sector entered a downturn in 2021. Multiple rounds of stimulus measures, from mortgage rate cuts to launching a programme for renovating urban villages, have so far failed to achieve a sustained turnabout.
Of the 70 cities surveyed, 57 reported month-on-month declines, and 65 recorded year-on-year falls.
Resale prices also weakened. Prices in tier-one cities fell 3.5% year-on-year, while tier-two dropped 5.2% and tier-three prices were down 6.0%.
Separate data showed property investment slumped 12.9% year-on-year in January–August, with property sales by floor area falling 4.7%.
Most analysts in a Reuters poll expect home prices to stabilise no earlier than the second half of 2026 or 2027, about half a year later than expectations three months ago.
Weak income expectations, elevated unemployment pressures, and high listings in the secondary market continue to dampen buyer sentiment, particularly in smaller cities burdened with high inventory, analysts say.
In the past few weeks, Shanghai and Shenzhen, two of China’s biggest cities, further eased homebuying curbs, scrapping them in some districts for qualified buyers.
The central government, meanwhile, kept its policy calls for stabilising the market. Premier Li Qiang said in a meeting in August that China should “adopt forceful measures to consolidate the stabilising trend” in the real estate market and stimulate demand for housing upgrades.
(Reporting by Liangping Gao, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes and Jacqueline Wong)
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