CHINA S January new home prices rose from a year earlier in all but two of the 70 cities monitored by the government, defying property curbs to keep housing affordable.
New home prices in the capital Beijing advanced 6.8 percent in January from last year, while Shanghai climbed 1.5 percent, the statistics bureau said on its Web site Friday, initiating a new method of calculating prices. Haikou had the biggest gain, surging 21.6 percent, and 10 cities had increases exceeding 10 percent. Housing values in the southeastern city of Quanzhou and the western city of Nanchong fell.
China extended property curbs last month, including raising the minimum down payment for second-home purchases, telling local governments to set price targets on new properties, and introducing taxes for residential homes in Shanghai and Chongqing. The central bank raised interest rates Feb. 8 for the third time in four months.
The new data clearly shows home prices are still rising and the government curbs only suppressed transaction volumes, said Jinny Yan, Shanghai-based economist at Standard Chartered Plc. The ultimate problem is monetary policy the government should at least raise interest rates two more times this year because if the liquidity is not tightened, it would be impossible for home prices to fall.
New home sales in Beijing rose 0.8 percent in January from December and 0.9 percent in Shanghai.
China stopped releasing national average property prices and changed the methodology of the survey starting this year, the statistics bureau announced Feb. 16, to more accurately reflect price gains.
The agency would continue to monitor 70 big and medium-sized cities and use online registration data for home transactions for 35 of them, it said. For cities that didn t have online registration systems, the bureau would continue to use figures from local authorities.
(SD-Agencies)
