Tighter curbs slow new home buying

New home purchases in China grew by a slower pace again in the first 11 months of this year with the government’s tighter measures continuing to impact buying sentiment, data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

New homes worth 8.7 trillion yuan (US$1.25 trillion), excluding government-funded affordable housing, were sold across the country between January and November, an annual rise of 39.3 percent. The pace slowed from a 42.6 percent gain in the first 10 months and a 43.2 percent jump in the first three quarters.

About 1.19 billion square meters of new homes were sold during the 11 months, up 24.5 percent from the same period a year ago. The rise slowed from the 27 percent gain in the first 10 months and the 27.1 percent annual gain in the first three quarters, the data showed.



“Tightening policies implemented in first and selected second-tier cities in October and November were effective in curbing rapid price growth,” said Mao Shengyong, a spokesman at the bureau.

In November, new homes worth 909.8 billion yuan were sold across the country, down from 941.2 billion yuan sold in October. The area of new homes bought totaled 132.5 million square meters, almost flat from October.

In the first 11 months, investment in residential projects nationwide rose 6 percent annually to 6.25 trillion yuan, 0.1 percentage point faster than in the first 10 months, according to the data showed.