June new home prices up 0.05%

Property: Curbs 'not to be eased in near future'

Year-on-year comparisons show that average prices are yet to hit the levels of 2011, despite the month-on-month increases.

A 1.9 percent year-on-year drop was reported in the average price of 100 monitored cities across China, while a 2.53 percent year-on-year drop was reported in the 10 major cities, the sixth consecutive year-on-year drop in 2012.

Beijing is the only city among the 10 monitored major cities that reported a year-on-year increase. In June, the average price of a newly developed property in Beijing hit 22,930 yuan, a 0.2 percent year-on-year increase.

"I don't think prices will be lower than the lowest point in 2011 in the near future, so I'll buy one in July," said Zhong Ping, another potential buyer in Beijing.

Property sales agents in Shanghai said trading of newly developed apartments has seen increasing numbers of buyers since April.

Jin Chun, a saleswoman in Minhang district in Shanghai, said she has seen trades increasing since the Spring Festival in January.

The property she works with started trading in April of last year, and there was no significant fluctuation in trade, except that sales slumped a little bit at the end of 2011.

"Now we see a different story, as around 100 potential buyers came to visit."

Some 300 apartments out of 400 she had for sale have gone, she said.

In Shanghai, home exchange centers in several districts suspended trading applications from those who are unmarried and without Shanghai household registration since late June, sticking strictly to the rules imposed by housing authorities over policies to control sales.

According to Wang Juelin, deputy director of the Policy Research Center under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, policies aimed at curbing prices will not be eased in short term.

In a recent speech, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said China needs to continue to build its housing stock, and housing for low-income groups and commercial housing both need more supply.

The goal is a market in which speculative buying is curbed, prices are stabilized, and housing supply meets demand.

In late June, the State Information Center underlined its view that current curbs over prices are not expected to be loosened for the time being.

It also added that China should accelerate its reform of the real estate tax system and adjust land transfer fee policies, to build a long-term mechanism to control house prices, replacing the current system that relies on administrative measures.

Contact with wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn

Jiang Wenqing contributed to the story.