Chinese property sector has good fundamentals for long-term sound development: official

Head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Kang Yi and NBS spokesperson Wang Guanhua brief China's national economy in 2023 and answer questions from journalists at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 17, 2024. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's property market has good fundamentals for long-term sound development, Kang Yi, head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said on Wednesday.

The official, when responding to a journalist's question regarding the sector's development trend at a press conference held in Beijing, cited two major reasons for this assessment.

"First of all, there is still much room for improvement in the quantity and quality of China's urbanization," Kang said, noting that the nation's urbanization rate in 2023 came in at 66.16 percent, as shown by the latest NBS data.

Compared with an urbanization rate of around 80 percent in developed economies, there is still room for improvement and China's urbanization is still in the process of continuous development, Kang said.

"Secondly, there is huge potential with China seeking to build a new model of property sector development," Kang said, explaining that the new model encompasses the construction of affordable housing, the construction of public infrastructure, and the renovation of existing urban housing.

"With the development of these projects, people's needs for housing will be better addressed, and at the same time, such projects will also drive property sector-related investment and consumption, which will ultimately promote the sound development of the property market," Kang said.

"After more than 20 years of development, China's property market has entered a period of adjustment and transformation," Kang added.

Bearing this broad background in mind, various regions and departments are adapting to a new situation which has seen major changes in supply and demand relationships in the property market, requiring timely adjustments and optimization of policies for this sector, Kang said.

NBS data showed on Wednesday that major Chinese cities reported falling home prices in December compared to the previous month. In the four first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, prices of new homes edged down 0.4 percent last month, while that of resold homes dropped 1.1 percent, according to the data.

However, on a year-on-year basis, new home prices witnessed mixed performances in Chinese cities in December. For new homes, first-tier cities saw prices down 0.1 percent while second-tier cities saw marginal price increases.

Despite price declines, transaction registrations for new residential homes have seen a recovery trend since August last year, according to Kang, who also noted that transaction registrations in December had picked up compared to August.

"Based on our monitoring data from 70 big and medium-sized cities, transactions involving both new homes and resold homes are witnessing a moderate increase," Kang added.

NBS data released on Wednesday also showed that in 2023, property development investment stood at 11.09 trillion yuan (about 1.56 trillion U.S. dollars), with investment in residential housing projects hitting 8.38 trillion yuan.

Meanwhile, the total sales value of commercial housing reached 11.66 trillion yuan, the data revealed.