China Dec new home prices fall at slower pace – private survey

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s December new home prices declined at a slower pace compared with a month earlier, a private-sector survey showed on Saturday, offering a tentative sign of stabilising demand after authorities took steps to avert a hard landing for the market.

New home prices in 100 cities fell 0.02% in December from a month earlier, narrowing from the 0.04% drop in November, according to data from China Index Academy, one of the country’s largest independent real estate research firms.

China’s property sector was hammered in 2021 after Beijing stepped up its deleveraging campaign against highly indebted developers that worsened a liquidity crisis, delayed project completions and rocked buyer sentiment.

In recent months, the government has marginally eased property financing to prevent a hard landing for the sector, although it has not reversed its curbs designed to reduce leverage and discourage speculation.

In December, several cities also implemented measures to boost home sales and mitigate local property distress, including the providing of subsidies or deed tax cuts for home buyers.

China’s top real estate regulator recently said it would keep its real estate policies consistent and stable, while strengthening coordination in areas including finance, and land and market supervision.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Gao Liangping; Editing by Kim Coghill)