Housing Prices Up in China

Prices for homes and real estate across China rose over the past year, according to a recently released survey of prices in the country. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and National Bureau of Statistics released their latest report on property prices in the country, and prices for July, 2008 were up by 7% from a year earlier. The report covers the prices of real estate in 70 major cities throughout the country.

 

Although prices were up, the increase in prices has slowed from the beginning of the year. January’s year-on-year prices were up 11.3%, and that had slipped to 8.2% in June. For July, new home prices were up 7.9%, with the cities of Haikou, Urumqi, Ningbo and Beijing leading the way in price increases. Of the 70 total cities covered, 17 reported price decreases from June of this year, including Shenzhen and Chengdu.

 

Pre-owned homes increased in price by 6% in July from the same time in 2007, according the survey. Office building prices were up 6.7% while commercial real estate increased by 4.1% from a year earlier.

 

"The development of the real estate has good prospects in a relatively long term. After rational adjustment, it will show a more sound development trend," said Wang Yiming, vice president of the Macro Economy Research Institute of the NDRC.