China’s new home prices remained flat in April for the second consecutive month, underscoring the continued strain on the country’s property sector despite recent government efforts to stabilize the market.
Official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday showed no monthly price growth, extending a stagnation trend that has persisted since May 2023.
Compared with a year earlier, new home prices in April were down 4.0%, a modest improvement from the 4.5% year-on-year decline reported in March. The data reflects ongoing weakness in a sector that has been central to China’s broader economic slowdown.
According to figures from the NBS, prices for new homes in 70 major cities — excluding government-subsidized housing — slipped 0.12% from March, a slightly steeper decline than the previous month’s 0.08% drop. Prices for existing homes showed an even sharper fall, decreasing 0.41% in April compared to a 0.23% decline in March.
The downturn in the property market comes at a delicate time for China’s economy, which is grappling with additional uncertainty amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States. While the two countries recently agreed to a temporary truce on tariffs, concerns remain about the impact of trade disruptions on consumer confidence and employment in China’s export-reliant economy — both critical factors for housing demand.
“The elephant in the room is China’s property market,” analysts at ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. led by Raymond Yeung noted in a recent report. “The tariff shock is caused by the unpredictability rather than the tariff itself.”
Policymakers in Beijing have introduced a series of measures in recent months to shore up the real estate sector, including easing restrictions on home purchases and offering financial support to developers. However, the data suggests that these efforts have yet to reverse the market’s downward trajectory.
