Xinhua, Beijing :
As the central government continues its tightening measures, a stand-off between home buyers and sellers seems to be cooling the property market and stressing property developers.
Official data for housing sales in May will be released next week. Until then, data from property developers offers a glimpse of the cooling market.
Sales of China Vanke, the country’s largest residential developer, declined 16.5 percent from April to 2.42 million square meters in May, with the value down 14.3 percent month-on-month to 35.89 billion yuan (about 5.28 billion U.S. dollars), the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
China Vanke was not the only property developer feeling the pinch. Some 70 percent of 40 property developers monitored by property research center CRIC saw sales value decreases from April. Combined sales value of the 40 companies fell 10 percent month-on-month in May.
Zhu Xu, secretary of China Vanke board, said the company expected the situation to be more severe in the second half this year.
Nationally, property sales measured by floor areas grew 15.7 percent year on year during the January-April period, a rapid growth but down from the 19.5-percent increase in the first three months, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Signs of the housing market cooling down came after the government’s increasingly stringent cooling measures to quash potential asset bubbles.
Rocketing housing prices, especially in major cities, had fueled concerns about asset bubbles. China’s policymakers announced in December that “houses are for living in, not for speculation.”
As the central government continues its tightening measures, a stand-off between home buyers and sellers seems to be cooling the property market and stressing property developers.
Official data for housing sales in May will be released next week. Until then, data from property developers offers a glimpse of the cooling market.
Sales of China Vanke, the country’s largest residential developer, declined 16.5 percent from April to 2.42 million square meters in May, with the value down 14.3 percent month-on-month to 35.89 billion yuan (about 5.28 billion U.S. dollars), the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
China Vanke was not the only property developer feeling the pinch. Some 70 percent of 40 property developers monitored by property research center CRIC saw sales value decreases from April. Combined sales value of the 40 companies fell 10 percent month-on-month in May.
Zhu Xu, secretary of China Vanke board, said the company expected the situation to be more severe in the second half this year.
Nationally, property sales measured by floor areas grew 15.7 percent year on year during the January-April period, a rapid growth but down from the 19.5-percent increase in the first three months, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Signs of the housing market cooling down came after the government’s increasingly stringent cooling measures to quash potential asset bubbles.
Rocketing housing prices, especially in major cities, had fueled concerns about asset bubbles. China’s policymakers announced in December that “houses are for living in, not for speculation.”
