BEIJING (Reuters) – New home prices in China rose at a slower pace in June, data showed on Thursday, as government measures to cool the heated housing market further tapped the brakes on growth.
Average new home prices in 70 major cities grew 0.5% in June from a month earlier, down from a 0.6% rise in May, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
Compared with a year earlier, new home prices rose 4.7%, slower than a 4.9% uptick in May.
China’s property market has rebounded quickly from the COVID-19 shock early last year, raising concerns about financial risks and overheating.
Authorities began stepping up curbs on the sector late last year, including restricting debt accumulation by developers, capping banks’ lending to the sector and guiding banks to increase mortgage rates.
But the moves are starting to drag on the property sector, a vital source of growth for the economy.
Despite the flurry of cooling measures, the head of China’s banking and insurance regulator, Guo Shuqing, warned again last month that local real-estate bubbles remained serious.
The NBS data also showed 55 cities reported monthly gains, falling from 62 in May.
(Reporting by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes)
