China’s property prices continue to decline, with a widening decrease in October. In September, the sales prices of new homes in 70 major cities dropped by 5.8% year-on-year, marking the largest decline since May 2015, and decreased by 0.7% month-on-month, extending the downward trend for 15 consecutive months.
On October 18, the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China released information on the changes in sales prices of residential properties and real estate development in 70 major cities. In September, both new and existing home prices across the country continued to fall, with all cities witnessing a decrease in existing home prices on a monthly basis.
Regarding new homes, on a year-on-year basis, sales prices of newly-built residential properties in first-tier cities decreased by 4.7%, widening by 0.5% compared to the previous month. Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen saw declines of 4.6%, 10.3%, and 8.6% respectively, while Shanghai recorded a 4.9% increase. Prices in second and third-tier cities dropped by 5.7% and 6.6% respectively, with declines expanding by 0.4% from the previous month.
Looking at month-on-month changes, sales prices of newly-built residential properties in first-tier cities decreased by 0.5%, widening by 0.2% compared to the previous month. Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen respectively saw declines of 0.7%, 0.9%, and 1.0%, while Shanghai recorded a 0.6% increase. Second-tier cities experienced a 0.7% drop, staying consistent with the previous month, and third-tier cities witnessed a 0.7% drop, narrowing by 0.1% from the previous month to 0.7%.
According to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China, prices of new residential properties in September fell by 5.8% year-on-year, surpassing the 5.3% decline in August and marking the largest drop since May 2015. On a monthly basis, prices decreased by 0.7% in September, unchanged from August, marking the 15th consecutive month of decline.
In terms of existing homes, on a year-on-year basis, sales prices of existing residential properties in first-tier cities dropped by 10.7%, expanding by 1.3% from the previous month. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen saw declines of 10.3%, 7.6%, 12.8%, and 12.0% respectively. Second and third-tier cities experienced declines of 8.9% and 9.0% respectively, with declines expanding by 0.3% and 0.5% from the previous month.
Month-on-month, sales prices of existing residential properties in first-tier cities dropped by 1.2%, widening by 0.3% from the previous month. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen saw declines of 1.3%, 1.2%, 1.1%, and 1.3% respectively. Second-tier cities witnessed a 0.9% drop, narrowing by 0.1% from the previous month, and third-tier cities saw a 0.9% drop, staying consistent with the previous month.
Additionally, from January to September, national residential investment amounted to 59.701 trillion yuan, decreasing by 10.5%. The completed residential area decreased by 23.9% year-on-year, while the construction area decreased by 12.7%, and the new construction area dropped by 22.4%.
From January to September, the sales area of new commercial housing was 728.4 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 17.1%, with the residential sales area dropping by 19.2%. The sales revenue of new commercial housing was 68.88 trillion yuan, down by 22.7%, and the residential sales revenue decreased by 24.0%. By the end of September, the unsold residential area had increased by 20.8%.
From January to September, real estate development enterprises received 7.8988 trillion yuan in funds, down by 20.0% year-on-year. Domestic loans amounted to 1.1466 trillion yuan, down by 6.2%; the utilization of foreign funds dropped by 19.9% to 29 billion yuan; self-raised funds decreased by 9.1% to 286.8 billion yuan; deposits and advance payments decreased by 29.8% to 235.93 billion yuan; and individual mortgage loans decreased by 34.9% to 110.79 billion yuan.