China's fast-growing residential real estate market saw a slight cooling down in January and this activity has continued to flow on through to February, new data shows.
Recent information released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China last week (March 20) shows that growth in the sale prices of newly constructed residential dwellings has slowed slightly.
In February, the National Bureau recorded that out of 70 medium and large sized cities across the country, four areas saw a small decline and nine remained the same. Only 57 cities saw a rise in sale prices, compared to 62 seen in January.
Interestingly, despite 57 cities experiencing a rise in prices, the single largest increase was just 0.7 per cent, which is slightly lower than January at 1.2 per cent.
While brand new property sales prices have seen a slight slow down, second-hand residential buildings have seen different activity. Over February, the National Bureau of Statistics found that established dwellings in 15 cities felt a price drop as low as 0.9 per cent, while 46 cities felt a price rise of up to 1.1 per cent for the month.
This activity will lead to better buying conditions for residents in the country which has faced sharp rises in residential housing prices in recent months.
China's market predictions
There are currently many mixed opinions in the media regarding China's residential property market. In a March 22 article from Xinhua, Song Lin from Shenzen's China Resources told the news agency he predicts housing prices in large cities will rise after stabilising first.
"There is still room for prices to rise in big cities while property prices in smaller cities, I guess, have entered a stage of adjustment," he told Xinhua.
Mr Lin went on to explain that the driving force for price growth in some cities, namely the first tier cities, is different from others.
The slight slow down in price growth over the months of January and February could be the first step towards property prices stabilising before rising further in the future.
However, the Chinese government's recent announcement of an urbanisation plan may actually help to cool prices further as more homes are introduced to attract rural residents to urban areas.
Infrastructure, housing and transport networks are all set to see investment by the government in order to boost headline growth for the country.
