According to the house price index released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in January 2024, new house prices fell in 56 of the country’s 70 large and medium-sized cities and second-hand house prices fell in 68 of them.
In Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangcou, the 4 most populous cities of the country, defined as “first-generation cities”, new house prices fell by 0.3 percent in January compared to the previous month, while second-hand house prices fell by 1 percent.
New and second-hand house prices continued to decline in 31 large-scale “second-generation” cities and 35 medium-sized “third-generation” cities.
Situation in the real estate sector
The contraction in the real estate sector and housing market in China has been one of the leading factors that have negatively affected economic growth for the last 2 years.
Real estate investments in the country, which decreased by 10 percent annually in 2022, continued to decline in 2023, decreasing by 9.6 percent. In 2023, new home sales decreased by 8.2 percent and new housing investments by 20.9 percent.
The government’s incentives to boost housing sales and investment financing to revive the real estate sector had limited impact.
