BEIJING: China’s new home prices rose for the fourth straight month in December, a private survey showed on Monday, buoyed by a slew of government support measures.
Prices rose 0.1 per cent on average in December from the previous month after rising 0.05 per cent in November, according to the survey by real estate research firm China Index Academy.
The property sector has stumbled from one crisis to another in recent years in a major blow to consumer and investor confidence.
Authorities have announced several measures to try to revive the housing market. In November, Beijing and Shanghai relaxed home purchase restrictions, including by lowering the minimum deposit ratio for purchases of first and second homes.
Analysts, however, think home buyers’ sentiment is too weak for the measures to have a long-term impact.
Private home prices in Singapore rose at a slower pace for the second consecutive year in 2023, increasing 6.7 per cent compared with 8.6 per cent in 2022 and 10.6 per cent in 2021.
In the final quarter of 2023, private home prices rose by 2.7 per cent, faster than the figure of 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, according to flash estimates released on Tuesday (Jan 2) by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
This was mainly driven by sales at some newly launched projects towards the end of the year. Huttons’ senior director of data analytics Lee Sze Teck noted “robust sales” of three major non-landed launches in November – Hillock Green, J’den and Watten House.
“It is an indication of the ample liquidity of local buyers as foreigners opt out after the increase in ABSD to 60 per cent in April 2023,” he added, referring to the additional buyer’s stamp duty.
“Singaporeans and permanent residents made up 98.5 per cent of purchases in 4Q 2023 while foreigners account for a mere 1.5 per cent.”
The ABSD was doubled for foreigners and increased for Singaporeans and permanent residents buying more than one property, as part of cooling measures introduced in April. It was the third round of cooling measures since December 2021.
Chief executive officer of ERA Singapore Marcus Chu said although the ABSD hike in April was a “curveball” in 2023, the residential sector may have found its footing with the gradual return of local buyers in the fourth quarter.
Ms Christine Sun, senior vice president of research and analytics at OrangeTee and Tie, noted that the faster growth in the fourth quarter was driven by price increases in the prime areas or the core central region (CCR) at 4.2 per cent, as well as the suburban areas or outside the central region (OCR) at 4.6 per cent. Source: Reuters And CNA
