China’s new home prices fall marginally in August due to weak demand

China’s new home prices fall marginally in August on weak demand BEIJING, Sept 1 (Reuters) – China’s new home prices in August fell month-on-month, as buyers remained cautious, despite hundreds of stimulus measures offered by local governments to prop up the distressed property sector.

New home prices in 100 cities fell 0.01% from a month earlier, unchanged from July, according to survey data released on Thursday by China Index Academy, one of the country’s largest independent real estate research firms.

Among 100 cities, 69 cities reported a fall in monthly prices, more than 47 in July, said the firm.

In August, home prices in tier-one cities including Beijing and Shanghai fell 0.08% in monthly terms, after a 0.16% fall in July.

Local governments will roll out more easing policy measures to boost credit demand, such as reducing maximum downpayments and lowering interest rates, said the academy.

The crisis in the sector has been highlighted by mortgage holders nationwide threatening to join others who have stopped making payments in reaction to developers falling behind in delivering projects.

Responding to the sector’s problems, policymakers have aready lowered downpayments and interest rates, and provided a real estate bailout fund to ensure developers finish housing projects.

The country’s central bank last week cut a mortgage rate for home buyers to boost credit demand.

(Reporting by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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