In February this year, of 70 major Chinese cities surveyed, 66 cities saw higher prices in the new house market, one city witnessed lower prices, while new house prices in the remaining three cities remained unchanged, all compared to January this year, according to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on March 18. Based on the NBS data, the average month-on-month increase in new house prices in Chinese cities in February was 2.1 percent, following the 0.8 percent rise in prices recorded in January as compared to December last year.
On the other hand, on year-on-year basis, in February this year 62 cities saw higher new house prices, while eight cities saw lower prices.
On March 1, the Chinese government had announced its plans to introduce a 20 percent capital gains tax and high downpayments and mortgage rates for second-time home buyers in cities where price increase rates are considered to be excessive. As a result, the increase rate in Chinese new house prices is expected to ease off in the coming period.