In January of the current year, the average new house price in 100 major cities in China amounted to RMB 15,853/square meter ($2,450/sq.m.), up 0.37 percent month on month, 0.12 percentage points faster than the month-on-month growth recorded in December last year, though up 3.56 percent year on year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the year-on-year growth recorded in December, as announced by CIA, the largest independent property research organization in China.
Meanwhile, the average second-hand house prices in the Chinese 100 cities amounted to RMB 15,542/square meter ($2,402/sq.m.), up 0.32 percent month on month, 0.04 percentage points faster than the month-on-month growth recorded in December last year, though up 3.22 percent year on year, 0.24 percentage points faster than the year-on-year growth recorded in December.
Cao Jingjing, research director of CIA, commented that the different regions in China have urged migrant workers to spend the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11-17) in the places where they work, which will negatively affect housing sales in their hometowns, while it will push up housing prices in the cities which have attracted many migrant workers.
In January, some first-tier and second-tier cities-including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen have issued tightening policies for the real estate market, aiming to curb the rapid rise in housing prices.
$1 = RMB 6.4736