Home prices in 70 Chinese cities on the mainland rose faster in January with first-tier cites again leading the gainers, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
Prices of new homes rose in 38 cities last month, one fewer than in December. Prices fell in 24 cities and were flat in the remaining eight, compared with 27 and four cities in December, respectively.
Shenzhen again led as month-on-month price increase sped from December’s 3.2 percent to a gain of 4.1 percent last month. Apartments in Shanghai were next with a 2.6 percent gain followed by Nanjing apartments where prices rose 2.5 percent, the bureau’s data showed. Apartments in Beijing did not make the top three according to this survey.
“Nationwide, the growth in home prices picked up notably in the first month of 2016 with an overall acceleration of 0.4 percentage points for new homes and 0.6 percentage points for existing properties,” said Liu Jianwei, a senior bureau statistician, adding that “gateway cities and a selected number of second-tier ones saw the most significant rises.”
On average, the growth in home prices in first-tier cities accelerated 0.5 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points in the new and pre-owned markets, compared with a 0.1-percentage-point rise for both markets in second-tier cities. In tertiary cities, prices were flat in the new home market last month, against a 0.1 percent fall in December, while they fell 0.1 percent in January in the pre-owned home market compared with no change in December, Liu said.
“Home prices in gateway as well as some second-tier cities will keep rising this year amid continuing strong demand from buyers and a generally favorable policy environment,” said Lu Qilin, director of research at Shanghai Homelink Real Estate Agency Co.
Home prices in the different tiered cities were even more mixed on an annual basis.
The average price growth in both new and pre-owned home markets in first-tier cities exceeded 20 percent in January from a year earlier, while it grew around 1 percent in second-tier cities. Prices of new homes rose year on year in 45 cities last month, up from 21 cities in December. In the pre-owned home market, prices climbed in 40 cities, up from 35 cities in December, the bureau said.
