Chinese real estate: Housing prices rise by 0.21%, says survey

BEIJING: China’s housing prices rose in January for the first time in nine months, a survey showed on Saturday, breaking a decline that has weighed on growth in the world’s second-largest economy. The average price of a new home in China’s 100 major cities rose 0.21% from December to 10,564 yuan ($1,690) per square metre, according to the independent China Index Academy, the first rise since April 2014. The figure represents a turnaround from December’s 0.44% decline, according to academy data. On a year-on-year basis, however, prices were down 3.09% in January, greater than the 2.69% recorded last month, the statement said. “Overall, with the real estate market expected to continue its turn for the better, prices in the 100 cities stabilised in the first month of the new year,” said the statement. “This month, prices have clearly risen in an increasing number of cities, including all of the first-tier cities,” it added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.

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