MNI 5 THINGS: China Housing Prices Rise to 14-Month High

     BEIJING (MNI) - MNI highlights five key points from data on housing prices

released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday:

     - The average price of new homes in 70 major cities, excluding subsidized

units, increased 8.9% y/y in September, up from 8.0% gain in August, the biggest

rise since July 2017, according to MNI calculations. 

     - There were less cities reporting housing price increases on a monthly

basis than in the previous month. Out of the 70 cities, 64 had housing prices

gaining, compared with 67 in the previous month.  

     Table 1: China Residential Property Prices - No. of cities where prices are

rising/falling

No. Cities Rising/Falling                 Sep  Aug  Jul  Jun  May  Apr  Mar  Feb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15-Top cities M/M                   Rise   11   12   11   10    9    8    6    1

                                    Fall    2    1    2    2    5    7    7   12

                                Net Rise    9   11    9    8    4    1   -1  -11

70-Large and medium Cities M/M      Rise   64   67   65   63   61   58   55   44

                                    Fall    3    1    3    4    7   10   10   16

                                Net Rise   61   66   62   59   54   48   45   28

15-Top cities Y/Y                   Rise   12   13   11    8    7    5    6    5

                                    Fall    2    2    4    7    8   10    9    9

                                Net Rise   10   11    7    1   -1   -5   -3   -4

70-Large and medium Cities Y/Y      Rise   67   68   65   61   62   59   60   59

                                    Fall    2    2    4    9    8   10   10    9

                                Net Rise   65   66   61   52   54   49   50   50

     Source: MNI - MNI Calculation based on NBS data 

     - Gains in housing prices in the top 15 cities narrowed in August. The

average price of 15 cities rose 0.4% m/m, a 5-month low, in line with the 70

cities' average price. On y/y basis, price rose 3.6%, accelerating from 2.9%

gain in the previous month, and was the most increase since August 2017.

     Table 2: China Residential Property Prices - Average Price Increases

Average Price Chg %              Sep  Aug  Jul  Jun  May   Apr   Mar   Feb

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15-Top cities               M/M  0.4  1.1  0.8  0.9  0.5   0.0   0.0  -0.2

                            Y/Y  3.6  2.9  1.6  0.8  0.0  -0.5  -0.4   0.0

70-Large and medium Cities  M/M  1.0  1.5  1.2  1.1  0.8   0.6   0.4   0.2

                            Y/Y  8.9  8.0  6.6  5.8  5.4   5.3   5.5   5.8

     Source: NBS 

     - The y/y increase in average price was mostly contributed by tier-2 and

tier-3 cities - 30 out of 31 tier-2 cities and all 35 tier-3 cities all reported

prices rise. Among four tier-1 cities, prices in two gained, one fell and one

was unchanged. 

     - New-home price in Xi'an, capital of northwestern province Shaanxi, came

at first place on a monthly basis with 6.2% gain. On y/y basis, Haikou, capital

of tropical Hainan province, recorded the most gain of all cities again at

21.7%. The beach city benefited from a policy announced in April calling for

further opening up of the island in the South China Sea to foreign investment . 

--MNI Beijing Bureau; tel: +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: flora.guo@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 10 8532 5998; email: william.bi@mni-news.com

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