New House Prices Continue To Drop In November

By Niam Seet Wei BEIJING, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- House prices in China continued to drop in November despite the government's mortgage policy adjustment, official data showed Thursday. Prices of new houses in 67 major cities recorded a month-on-month drop in November, according to a survey on house prices in 70 major cities conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). New house prices in Beijing and Shanghai dropped 0.3 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, narrowing from 1.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent falls in October. For second house prices, 58 out of the 70 cities recorded prices drop last month, down from 64 in October. Second house prices in six cities, including first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen recorded price increases. NBS senior statistician Liu Jianwei attributed the narrow decline to government policies, including the eased mortgage measures introduced in September which allowed second-time buyers to enjoy a 30 per cent discount on their mortgage rate, as well as, a lower down payment from 60-70 per cent to 30 per cent. Besides, China's central bank announcement on November 21 to cut the benchmark rate for one-year deposits by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent coupled with the lowering of one-year benchmark lending rate by 40 basis points to 5.6 per cent also helped ease house prices in the country. -- BERNAMA