Housing prices in major cities are no longer on the rise, Chen Zhenggao, minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, disclosed at a press conference on Feb. 23.
According to statistics from the National Statistics Bureau, prices of new homes in first- and second-tier cities around China remained at basically the same level in January as in the previous month. Home prices in second-tier cities increased by just 0.1 percent. Those in third-tier cities also remained stable, rising 0.4 percent from the previous month.
In January, 11 of China’s 15 first-tier cities and popular second-tier cities reported home prices that declined from the previous month. Home prices in three of the cities remained the same, and one city reported a rise of 0.6 percent. Based on these numbers, Chen predicted that home prices in the first quarter of 2017 will remain basically the same as during the same period of 2016.