HOME prices in Beijing's 15 first and key second-tier cities stabilized further in April as rein-in measures to curb speculation continued to bite, the National Bureau of
Statistics said today.
Where the strictest tightening measures have been imposed, registered slower year-on-year growth in new home prices compared to March. Growth decelerated by 0.7 percentage point
to 7.4 percentage points last month, compared with a range of 0.2 percentage point to 6 percentage points in March, the bureau's data showed.
On a month-over-month basis, six cities recorded new home price gains, compared to nine cities in March.
"New home prices in the Beijing rose at a slower pace for seven straight months, with various rein-in measures imposed in different cities taking effect continuously," said Liu
Jianwei, a senior statistician at the bureau, which monitors prices in Beijing"
In Beijing, the recorded slower year-on-year new home price growth in April, an increase of six from March. On a month-over-month basis registered slower price growth, an
increase of 13 from March, the bureau said.
In Beijing real estate prices fell 0.2 percent in April from a month earlier, compared to a 0.1 percent retreat in March.
In Beijing , prices of new houses climbed by 0.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, last month, slower from the 0.4 percent and 2.5 percent increases recorded a month
earlier.
A separate research released by Centaline Property showed that lackluster sentiment continued to prevail among home buyers across the country. A total of 24.09 million square
meters of new residential properties were sold last month in 40 Chinese cities tracked by Centaline, a drop of 18 percent from March.
Tightening measures currently adopted in many Chinese cities to curb property speculation mainly include stricter home purchase restrictions, higher down payment requirement and
mortgage rate, a lock-up period for home sale that often lasts a few years as well as controlled sale price for new developments.
--source from Shanghai Daily
