(Photo/Chinanews.com)

The average age of Chinese home buyers in 2018 was 29.5, a younger average compared with the rest of the world, suggested a recent report on a survey of Chinese home buyers in 2018, the Economic View app reported on Jan. 28.

The average per capita floor space of property purchased in 2018 was 27.8 square meters, while 24.3 percent purchased less than 20 square meters, according to the report released by a research institute focused on the real estate industry (research.ke.com).

Compared with other age groups, people born in the 1980s who have children of primary school age owned the least space, with a per capita floor space of 27 square meters, said the report.

According to the report, China's property industry has witnessed an increase in sales of second-hand homes, with the report showing that two-bedroom houses were the most popular on the second-hand market.

"90 percent of first-time home buyers used loans to pay for houses in 2018, the highest proportion among all groups,” said the report.

Monthly payments made by first-time home buyers in 2018 accounted for an average of 42.9 percent of their income, while for most people, monthly repayments accounted for over 50 percent of their salaries.

The report indicated that since the majority of first-time buyers were from the post-80s and post-90s generations, many face higher pressure in regards to repayments, with the average percentage of income spent on housing payments by post-80s and post-90s buyers standing at 40.8 percent and 43.5 percent respectively.

Moreover, the average ratio between income and repayment for home buyers in China’s third- and fourth-tier cities was 42.4 percent, significantly higher than for homebuyers in higher-tier cities.

Under China’s continuous regulation and control of the property industry, the market witnessed tremendous changes throughout 2018. According to Xu Xiaole, chief analyst at research.ke.com, an obvious imbalance is visible in China’s property market, which will continue to be the primary focus for the country’s housing policy reform.