China new home prices fall at fastest pace in over 9 years in Aug
Only two cities recorded monthly, annual gains in home prices
Property investment, sales fell in Jan-Aug
Mortgage rate cuts are expected
Adds details of data, background
By Liangping Gao and Kevin Yao
BEIJING, Sept 14 (Reuters) -China's new home prices fell at the fastest pace in more than nine years in August, official data showed on Saturday, as supportive measures failed to spur a meaningful recovery in the property sector.
New home prices were down 5.3% from a year earlier, the fastest pace since May 2015, compared with a 4.9% slide in July, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.
In monthly terms, new home prices fell for the fourteenth straight month, down 0.7%, matching a dip in July.
The property market continues to grapple with deeply indebted developers, incomplete apartments, and declining buyer confidence, straining the financial system and endangering the 5% economic growth target for the year.
A Reuters poll predicted China's home prices will fall by 8.5% in 2024, and decline by 3.9% in 2025, as the sector struggles to stabilise.
China's property market is still in the process of gradually bottoming out as home buyers' demand, income and confidence will take some time to recover, said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at property agency Centaline.
"The market is looking forward to a stronger policy."
Property investment fell 10.2% and home sales slumped 18.0% year-on-year in the first eight months, according to official data also released on Saturday.
Chinese policymakers have intensified efforts to support the sector including reducing mortgage rates and lowering home buying costs, which has partly revitalised demand in major cities.
Smaller cities, which face fewer home purchase restrictions and have high levels of unsold inventory, are especially vulnerable, highlighting the challenges faced by authorities to balance demand and supply across various regions.
Of the 70 cities surveyed by NBS, only two reported home price gains both in monthly and annual terms in August.
"With our view of a worsening growth slowdown under
new headwinds in H2, we expect Beijing will be eventually forced to serve as the builder of last resort by directly providing funding to those delayed residential projects that have been pre-sold," said Nomura in a research note on Friday.
China may cut interest rates on over $5 trillion in outstanding mortgages as early as this month, according to Bloomberg News.
To support mortgage rate cuts, a cut of five-year Loan Prime Rate is likely in September, complemented by a 20bp cut of medium-term lending facility (MLF) and 50bp cut to the reserve requirement ratio (RRR), economists at ANZ said in a research note on Friday.
Reporting by Ella Cao, Liangping Gao and Kevin Yao; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
