(ECNS) - While September and October are usually peak season for China’s real estate sales, a new report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) reveals stark changes in the market.
The report by the CASS National Academy of Economic Strategy said first and second-tier cities reported weak sales and price stability in the two months, hailed as “Golden September and Silver October” in the sector, while smaller cities experienced plummeting house prices due to large numbers of unsold houses.
House prices in Beijing had risen since the start of the year until the uptrend stopped in August after the central government introduced new controls. In August, house prices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou rose by 0.27 percent from the previous month, only 0.01 percentage points higher than the growth rate in July.
Compared with the same month last year, houses prices in those four first-tier cities increased by 4.1 percent, with the biggest fall, of 8.37 percent, in Shanghai and the sharpest rise, of 18.19 percent, in Guangzhou.
The report also shows new emerging cities narrowed the increasing rate of housing prices, clearly due to the government’s regulations and policy adjustment over shantytown redevelopment.
The complicated international economic situation has worsened market uncertainty and led to a wait-and-see mood in the short term, according to the report.
