Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, February 2 (TMTPOST) —— The trading environment and conditions of the Chinese real estate market has improved due to a flurry of favorable policies introduced since the beginning of 2023.

However, the latest data showed that China's housing market had not recovered in January, and the divergence of home prices between cities continued to exist.

The average price of new homes in 100 cities fell 0.02% month-on-month to 16,174 yuan ($2, 404) per square meter in January, the seventh consecutive month of decline, according to data from the China Index Academy.

New home prices in first-tier cities edged up 0.01% from a month-on-month decline. Shanghai and Beijing saw month-on-month price increases of 0.04% and 0.01%, respectively. The price decline in second-tier cities shrunk, with Chengdu, Hangzhou, and other cities taking the lead in price growth among the 100 cities. In the third - and fourth-tier cities, except for a few cities with a slight improvement, most cities' home prices were still in decline.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also suggested that the new home market in first-tier cities has shown signs of stabilizing. Since October 2022, the turning point of new house prices has appeared in Shenzhen and other four first-tier cities. The month-on-month decline in Shenzhen and Guangzhou has shrunken. The market performance of Shanghai and Beijing has been steady, showing a slight upward trend for several months in a row.

Sales of new homes are still sluggish. The Spring Festival was an important marketing time for real estate enterprises, especially for those in third-and-fourth-tier cities, which had buyers coming home for family reunions from other cities. However, data from the China Index Academy showed both sellers and buyers were less willing to strike a deal during this year's Lunar New Year holiday, which further weighed on the real estate market performance in January.