China property prices fall in May

GlobalPost

Home prices in China fell for the eighth straight month in May as developers cut prices to boost sales, Reuters reported.

The data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today adds to growing evidence that the world’s second-largest economy is slowing as tightening measures introduced in the past two years bite and the euro zone crisis hurts growth.

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According to Market News International, prices in 54 of the 70 cities tracked by the government fell on a year-on-year basis, compared with 46 in April and 38 in March.

The May figure was a record, Bloomberg noted.

"There is a huge amount of downward pressure on the property market that stems from the fact that all the administrative measures remain in place and at the same time growth in China is slowing," IHS Global Insight analyst Alistair Thornton was quoted by the BBC as saying.

China has been relaxing monetary and fiscal policies to boost economic activity. On June 7 it cut interest rates for the first time since the global financial crisis and it has reduced the amount of money banks must keep in reserve numerous times.

More from GlobalPost: China cuts interest rates in bid to boost growth

But, so far, Beijing has shown no signs of easing measures aimed at reducing politically sensitive property prices, which have risen out of the reach of many ordinary Chinese.

Reuters said a Xinhua report today quoted a housing official as saying that "all localities must firmly implement various property tightening measures as required by the central government."

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