China home prices drop for 4th straight month

BEIJING (Jan 4): Average home prices in key Chinese cities edged down 0.3% in December from November, the fourth consecutive monthly decline in the face of government measures to restrain an exuberant housing market, a private survey showed on Wednesday.

The China Real Estate Index System (CREIS) — affiliated with China's largest online real estate company Soufun Holdings Ltd — said average home prices slipped to RMB8,809 (RM4,388.42) per sq m in December, from November's RMB8,832.

Home prices fell in 60 of the 100 cities, remained flat in three and rose in 37 cities, matching a trend reflected in official data.

China's top leaders have reiterated their commitment to curb speculation in the red-hot real estate market, leaving new buyers perched on the sidelines waiting for deeper price cuts.

Expectations are rising among investment analysts that Beijing will relax restrictions at some point in 2012 to avoid a hard landing for the broad economy, which is already struggling with weakening external demand as Europe's debt crisis festers.

CREIS said prices in China's top 10 cities fell 0.5% in December from a month earlier to an average of RMB15,588 per sq m, compared with a monthly drop of 0.4%.

In year-on-year terms, average home prices rose 0.4% in the top 10 cities and were up 2.9% in 100 cities, it added.

Official data showed new home prices ticked lower in November from October, for the second successive month. They fell in 49 of the 70 cities monitored by the National Bureau of Statistics, broadening from 33 in October.

The NBS is scheduled to announce December home price data on Jan 18.

Despite the survey, China's property shares inched up 0.4% at 0300 GMT on Wednesday, the first trading day in 2012 and broadly in line with the benchmark Shanghai stock index.

China Vanke, the country's largest listed developer by sales, rose 0.8%. Its shares fell 9% in 2011. — Reuters