Customers check out real estate models at a property firm in Langfang, Hebei Province. (Photo provided to China Daily)
China's property market maintained steady development in August, as housing prices remained stable in major cities.
On Tuesday, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported new home prices in the country's four first-tier cities rose 0.3 percent month-on-month in August, reporting the same increase as the previous month.
New-house prices in Beijing and Shanghai surged 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent month-on-month respectively. Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province both reported an increase of 0.2 percent in new home prices.
Compared with the same period last year, new house prices in four first tier cities rose 4.2 percent in August, 0.1 percentage point lower than the prices in July.
Second-hand housing prices in the four first-tier cities were flat in August, which increased by 0.3 percent month-on-month in August. Compared with the same period last year, the prices decreased by 0.2 percent, marking the first decline since last June.
Last month, new home prices and the price of second-hand residential buildings in 31 second-tier cities rose by 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent month-on-month respectively, both reporting 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous month.
On a yearly basis, new house prices and second-hand housing prices jumped 9.9 percent and 5.5 percent, 0.8 and 1.2 percentage points lower than the previous month.
Data from the NBS showed new house prices soared 0.7 percent on a month-on-month basis in 35 third-tier cities in August, similar to the increase in previous month. On a yearly basis, the prices jumped 9 percent last month, 1.2 percentage points lower than July.
The prices of second-hand residential buildings in 35 third-tier cities rose by 0.8 percent month-on-month, 0.1 percentage point higher than July. On a yearly basis, the prices surged 5.8 percent, 1.3 percentage points lower than the previous month.
This tapering off in price increases came after a series of government initiatives to stablize the property market and pursue steady growth in the nation's economic development.
The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting on July 30, saying China will adhere to the principle of "housing is for living in, not for speculation."
China will implement such a long-term mechanism to maintain the sound development of the real estate market, and not use real estate as a short-term means of stimulating the economy, according to the meeting.
