What’s new: China’s real estate market remained sluggish during the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday as developers and homebuyers responded without much enthusiasm to the recent easing of financing policies, property analysts said.
By floor space, new home sales in 40 surveyed cities fell 40% during the seven days through Sunday, compared with the holiday period in 2021, according to a Tuesday report by property think tank China Real Estate Information Corp. (CRIC).
The market was weaker in smaller cities as migrants returning home didn’t buy as much property as they did over past holidays, the analysts said. Property firms were less aggressive than usual with sales promotions during the holiday because of concerns about Covid-19 flare-ups and weak market sentiment.
The context: China’s property market entered 2022 in a downward spiral even though regulators had eased some policy curbs for developers and homebuyers and the central bank had recently cut interest rates. The real estate industry has been in turmoil since the second half of last year as some large private property firms were mired in a liquidity crisis partly because regulators clamped down on their financing.
The value of sales made by the top 100 developers in January fell 43% year-on-year, and the CRIC analysts projected another drop was on the way for February.
Related: China’s Property Market Set for Gloomy Year After 2021 Ends in a Funk
Contact reporter Guo Yingzhe (yingzheguo@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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