China's major cities report falling home prices in August

BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Major Chinese cities recorded falling home prices in August, official data showed on Saturday.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said China's large and medium-sized cities saw month-on-month declines in both new and second-hand home prices.

In the country's first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, new home prices edged down by 0.3 percent, narrowing from a 0.5-percent drop in the previous month. Second- and third-tier cities registered declines of 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Prices of second-hand homes fell by 0.9 percent in first-tier cities, 1 percent in second-tier cities, and 0.9 percent in third-tier cities, the NBS said.

China's property market remains in the process of adjustment. The country has rolled out a slew of policies to bolster the real estate sector, including cutting minimum down payment ratios, abolishing the commercial mortgage rate floors for first and second homes, and establishing a re-lending facility that supports local state-owned enterprises in using such funds to buy commercial homes for use as affordable housing.

As part of recent reforms, China is transitioning from the traditional pre-sale model to a "sale-upon-completion" approach for real estate transactions -- to mitigate risks associated with unfinished projects.