Source: CCTV.com

02-17-2009 11:31

Official statistics indicate property prices in January fell in a quarter of China's 70 big and medium-sized cities. As Qi Tianxing explains, the low prices have raised housing turnover in some cities.

Official statistics indicate property prices in January  fell in a quarter of China's 70 big and medium-sized cities.

Beijing's real estate price index saw a year-on-year price drop of 0.2 percent in January year on year. Second-hand homes and high-end properties saw the biggest fall. This is the first time since 2004 that the Chinese capital saw such a drop.

Dong Pan, director of Real Estate Studies Ctr., Beijing Normal University, says, "if there's no policy support in the near future, the price and turnover are still likely to fall. Preferential policies may change the trend."

Beijing's property prices began to fall last year. The first drop was in September.

Last month in Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong, the price of newly-built homes dropped more than 17 percent year-on-year. But property turnover is going up.

Huang Wenbo, deputy director of GZ Land Resources & Housing mgmt. Bureau, says, "the turnover was only around 200 thousand square meters in the beginning of 2008. By the end of last year, the turnover hit more than 500 thousand. The turnover is gradually warming up, indicating that there's indeed housing demand."

Meanwhile, the residential land price in Guangzhou has also fallen to the level of two years ago.

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Editor:Qin Yongjing