(Bloomberg) — China’s home sales rose in February, signaling that demand is recovering after policymakers expanded support for the sector.
(Bloomberg) — China’s home sales rose in February, signaling that demand is recovering after policymakers expanded support for the sector.
The value of new home sales by the 100 biggest real estate developers climbed 14.9% from a year earlier to 461.6 billion yuan ($66.5 billion), according to preliminary data from China Real Estate Information Corp. That’s the first year-on-year increase since June 2021, coming from a low base in February 2022, which included the Lunar New Year holiday. The holiday fell at the end of January this year.
China has shifted policy to help the industry — first by easing financing for developers and then by reviving homebuyer demand. Some local governments moved away from rules restricting land sales, while the securities watchdog introduced a pilot program for real estate private equity investment funds.
Wuhan — one of China’s biggest cities — eased a key restriction on housing purchases in February, allowing local families to buy an additional home in areas with purchasing caps.
“Loosening measures have eased downward pressure on home markets in some cities,” Yang Kewei, chief analyst at China Real Estate Information, wrote in a note before the data release. But the recovery “is still fragile.”
–With assistance from Fran Wang.
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