China’s new home price surge speeds down as big cities dive

In February, China's new home price surge speeded down from January. It’s because a raft of government curbs aimed at taming speculative demand managed to soften prices in the country’s biggest cities. However, strength seen in smaller centers was still unchanged.

In China’s 70 key cities average new home prices tacked on 0.2% in February compared with a jump of 0.3% percent in January, according to Reuters' calculations from National Bureau of Statistics uncovered on Monday.

Compared with 2017, they soared 5.2% in the month, adding from January’s 5% soar.

In China’s major cities prices went down after they had stabilized in January, as the NBS revealed in a statement, which accompanies the report, without providing a specific figure.

As a matter of fact, Shenzhen's new home prices inched down 0.6% month-on-month, after in January they stabilized. Additionally, Beijing prices headed south 0.3% having posted a 0.2% jump in the previous month.

The majority of China’s 70 cities polled by the NBS informed that monthly price for new homes leapt. However, the number has gone down from January. Additionally, 44 cities posted higher prices in February, compared to January's 52 cities.

The dip in the four top-tier cities across China actually contrasts with a firm leap in prices in the country’s numerous smaller cities. For example, the fastest price gain was observed in Nanchong. In this city values of new homes tacked on 1.7% in February on-month.

Besides this, price surge in tier-3 cities was intact from January, as the NBS informed. Further details are unavailable.

Home price surge started speeding down in the second half of the previous year because the government tried to cope with bubbles in its property markets after nearly two years of rapid expansion.