On April 16, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics released the latest data on the selling prices of commercial housing in 70 large and medium-sized cities. Based on this data, foreign media calculated that in March, the year-on-year price decline of new houses in the 70 cities was the largest in 10 months.
According to official data, in March, the prices of newly built commercial housing in first-tier cities decreased by 2.2% year-on-year, the same as the previous month. Among them, Shanghai saw a 3.7% increase, while Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen experienced decreases of 2.1%, 4.7%, and 5.5% respectively. The prices of newly built commercial housing in second-tier cities dropped by 3.3% year-on-year, expanding by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. Third-tier city prices also decreased by 4.0% year-on-year, the same as the previous month.
According to Reuters, based on the data released by the Statistics Bureau, the prices of new commercial housing in the 70 large and medium-sized cities fell by 3.4% year-on-year in March, the largest decrease in 10 months.
As for second-hand housing, in first-tier cities, prices decreased by 7.4% year-on-year, narrowing by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen saw declines of 8.3%, 6.2%, 8.1%, and 7.0% respectively. Second-hand housing prices in second-tier cities fell by 6.2% year-on-year, the same as the previous month. Third-tier cities experienced a 6.4% year-on-year price decline, expanding by 0.1 percentage point compared to the previous month.
Looking at the month-on-month changes, in March, the prices of newly built commercial housing in first-tier cities increased by 0.2% from the previous month. Among them, Beijing remained stable, while Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen rose by 0.3%, 0.3%, and 0.2% respectively. In second and third-tier cities, the prices of new commercial housing decreased by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively, with the decline remaining the same as the previous month.
In terms of second-hand housing, the prices in first-tier cities rose by 0.4% month-on-month, a turnaround from the 0.1% decline in the previous month. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen saw increases of 0.6%, 0.4%, 0.2%, and 0.4% respectively. In second and third-tier cities, the prices of second-hand residential properties decreased by 0.2% and 0.4% respectively, with declines narrowing by 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous month.
However, the official Chinese data often disguises unfavorable situations, and the actual data may be even worse.
On April 1, the China Real Estate Research Institute released the Price Index for 100 Cities showing that in March, the average price of second-hand homes in these cities was 12,792 yuan per square meter, a year-on-year decrease of 8.55%. On a monthly basis, prices fell by 0.34%, with the rate of decline narrowing by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. This marks the 47th consecutive month of decline in second-hand home prices across the 100 cities.