Housing prices in China continued to fall in November despite the government’s mortgage policy adjustment, media reports said.
According to a survey involving 70 major cities conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), prices of new homes in 67 cities recorded month-on-month declines last month.
Prices in Beijing and Shanghai dipped 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent respectively, less than the 1.3 percent and 0.7 percent falls recorded in October.
For second house prices, 58 of the 70 cities reported price drops in November, down from 64 in the previous month.
Second house prices in six cities, including first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen registered price gains.
NBS senior statistician Liu Jianwei attributed the narrow decrease to government policies, including the easing of mortgage measures introduced in September which allows second-time buyers to enjoy a 30 percent discount on their mortgage rate, as well as lower down payments from 60-70 percent to 30 percent.
At the same time, the central bank’s recent announcement to cut the benchmark rate for one-year deposits by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent coupled with the lowering of one-year benchmark lending rate by 40 basis points to 5.6 percent also helped to moderate prices.
Farah Wahida, Editor of PropertyGuru Malaysia, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email farahwahida@propertyguru.com.my
