Reining-in measures fail to dent housing prices

FEWER Chinese cities reported evidence of a slowdown in new home prices in April compared to a month earlier, new figures yesterday revealed.
This indicates government rein-in measures introduced in January to curb speculative demand are yet to have a significant effect.
New home prices, excluding affordable housing, either fell or remained unchanged month-on-month in 14 out of the 70 cities monitored across the country, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
This compares with a fall or no change in prices reported in 20 cities in March.
In Beijing, new home prices climbed 0.1 percent from a month earlier, while in Shanghai, they gained 0.3 percent, the statistics bureau said. In March, they remained flat in the capital city and rose 0.2 percent in Shanghai.
Nationwide, prices rose the most - at 0.8 percent - in Hohhot in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Jinzhou in Liaoning Province.
Some 26 cities registered a smaller monthly price growth last month, compared to 29 in March.
The prices of existing homes, meanwhile, either dropped or remained flat in 29 cities, an increase of three from March.
The biggest price increases of existing homes, at 0.8 percent on a month earlier, were in Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the northwest, the bureau said.
In comparison, three cities registered monthly growth of more than 1 percent in March.
In Shanghai, prices of existing houses climbed 0.6 percent - up 0.2 of a percentage point from March.
On a year-on-year basis, three out of the 70 cities recorded decreases in new home prices, compared to two registered a month earlier.
In the existing home market, eight cities showed price falls compared to a year ago, an increase of three from March, the bureau said.
"These latest figures show signs that the domestic residential market is picking up some strength, three months after the implementation of the country's latest batch of austerity measures," said Shao Minghao, research head at Shanghai Hanyu Property Consulting Co. "Therefore, there might be the case that further tightening measures will be introduced if the current ones prove to fail to curb runaway property prices."
China has launched a series of tightening measures to combat soaring home prices since late January but the biggest effect these have had so far is to reduce transaction volumes.
A total of 64.96 million square meters of new residential properties, excluding those built under affordable housing programs, was sold across the country last month. This figure compares with the 85.67 million square meters registered in March.
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