In August this year, of 70 major Chinese cities surveyed, new house prices in first-tier cities increased by 4.2 percent year on year, while rising by 0.3 percent month on month, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Meanwhile, in second-tier cities the year-on-year growth rate of new house prices in the given month was 9.9 percent, 0.8 percentage points lower compared to the year-on-year growth rate in July, while up 0.5 percent month on month, 0.2 percentage points lower than in July.
In China’s first-tier cities, prices of second-hand house prices in August saw a year-on-year decline of 0.2 percent, which was the first year-on-year drop since June last year. In second-tier cities, the year-on-year growth rate of second-hand house prices in August was 5.5 percent, 1.2 percentage points lower compared to the year-on-year growth rate recorded in July.
China’s central government has reiterated that houses are for living in and not for speculation, with such statements contributing to the cooling down of the real estate market. Market analysts think China’s real estate market will continue to see a slowdown in growth in the remaining period of the year.