MNI 5 Things: China Housing Rallies, Dandong Sees Fast Growth

     BEIJING (MNI) - China National Bureau of Statistics released the country's

70-city housing prices on Wednesday. MNI highlights five things worth attention:

     - Price of new homes, excluding government-subsidized housing, rallied in

April. It rose 0.6% month-on-month, up from the 0.4% growth in March, MNI

calculations based on the statistics bureau's data on 70 major cities show. The

faster growth was buoyed by a pick-up in both tier-2 cities and tier-3 cities

where the gain expanded by 0.1 and 0.2 percentage point.

     - The m/m acceleration reflects still-strong demand, especially in tier-2

cities where local governments have issued preferential policies to attract

talent. The Shannxi city of Xi'an has seen a shortage of inventory due to robust

purchases by new residents and less property construction due to the

government's pollution control campaign.

     - New home price climbed 5.3% year-over-year in April, slower than the 5.5%

growth in the month-ago period. This shows the government's strict curbs on the

property market to rein in surging housing price amid frenzied speculation have

taken effect to some degree.

     - More cities saw housing price increase on a monthly basis -- 58 in April

compared with 55 in March, while fewer cities experienced a y/y price growth --

59 in April, down from 60 in March.

     - Dandong city, the trading hub bordering North Korea, saw the highest

price growth of 2% in April after the first meeting between the two Korean

countries in more than a decade. Speculators and investors are said to have

flocked to the city, pushing up housing prices. The city's tightening of

property controls on Monday could be a measure to cool down the local property

market.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI Singapore Bureau; +65 8233 2326; email: Asia-Editor@marketnews.com