Source: CCTV.com

03-22-2008 15:27

While housing prices look set for a rough ride in the US and Europe, the situation is still mixed in major Chinese cities.

While housing prices look set for a rough ride in the US and Europe, the situation is still mixed in major Chinese cities.(Photo: CCTV.com)
While housing prices look set for a rough ride in the US and
Europe, the situation is still mixed in major Chinese cities.
(Photo: CCTV.com)

Housing price growth has been slowing down in major Chinese cities.

According to a report released by the People's Bank of China, consumers in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities are less willing to make property purchases now.

Figures from the Chinese central bank show, that in February, new home transactions in Shanghai dropped more than half from the previous month. Meanwhile, the numbers for Beijing between January to February this year were also down nearly 50 percent, compared with the same period last year.

Industry insiders say, many people still have a wait-and-see attitude.

Zhao Chenming, general manager of Property Sales, Golden Keys, said, "Our new homes sales have been declining since October 2007. While our average sales prices per unit in January were also down nearly 15 percent from the previous month. The price in February was almost the same as January."

While housing prices look set for a rough ride in the US and Europe, the situation is still mixed in major Chinese cities.(Photo: CCTV.com)
While housing prices look set for a rough ride in the US and
Europe, the situation is still mixed in major Chinese cities.
(Photo: CCTV.com)

Industry insiders point out, many people still have a wait-and-see attitude.

Meanwhile, in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, a recent drop of 1,000 yuan per square meter in average housing prices was attributed to the large release of government-backed low-rent and affordable housing projects.

However, sales prices in Hebei Province rose a little bit in February, but the overall transaction volume was still dropping, since many people are not very excited about new home purchases.

In Fuzhou of Fujian Province, the housing index there dropped to its 3 year low in February. But overall sales of mid-sized apartments were still popular, and the transaction volume and total sales accounted for over half of the city's total property market.

 

Editor:Liu Fang