Staff of Reuters Read for 2 minutes (Reuters) – BEIJING, July 1 (Reuters) – According to a private-sector survey released on Thursday, growth in China’s new home prices remained relatively stable in June, with momentum curbed by government controls on uncontrolled borrowing and price caps on housing developments in select locations. According to data from China Index Academy, one of the country’s leading independent real estate research firms, new home prices in 100 cities grew 0.36 percent in June from a month earlier, up slightly from 0.34 percent growth in May. The number of cities reporting monthly advances fell to 77 in June from 80 in May, while 20 cities recorded lower housing prices compared to 17 the month before. According to the CIA, new home price rise in some areas will likely slow in the second half of the year as local governments concerned about hot markets continue to enhance housing loan regulation. In June, resale property prices increased 0.49 percent over the previous month, decreasing slightly from May’s 0.5 percent increase. In June, resale property prices in Shenzhen, a southern tech hub, fell 0.56 percent more than in May, falling for the third month in a row as a new pricing reference system for resale home transactions cooled the market. This year, China launched a slew of sweeping steps to cool the country’s sweltering real estate market, including developer-set home price ceilings. According to local media, many banks in areas such as Shanghai and Guangzhou face tight restrictions for mortgage lending as the central bank restricts loans to the property sector. Transactions by floor area increased at a quicker rate in June than in May in 18 cities studied by the institute, with tier-1 cities experiencing a 57.2 percent increase and tier-3 towns seeing a 31.6 percent increase. (Liangping Gao, Lusha Zhang, and Ryan Woo contributed reporting; Tom Hogue edited the piece.)/n
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