(Yicai Global) Dec. 15 -- Housing prices continued to slump in China last month, with more cities reporting a downward trend than in October, as the market fails to respond to a slew of supportive measures from regulators.

The price of a new home dropped in 51 out of 70 medium and large cities in November from October, compared with 44 in October, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today. While pre-owned housing prices fell in 62 cities, the same number as in October.

The price of a new home in the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou dipped 0.2 percent from the month before and that of a second-hand home 0.4 percent. Both figures widened 0.1 percentage point from October’s decline.

While in second-tier cities, the price of new housing slid 0.2 percent and that of lived-in homes 0.4 percent month on month, a narrowing of 0.1 percentage point from October.

The market was lackluster in November, Liu Lijie, a market analyst at Beike Real Estate Research Institute, told Yicai Global. The relaxation in Covid-19 prevention measures has affected the market to some extent, but there is unlikely to be the usual carryover effect at the end of the year.

Consumers’ wait-and-see attitude towards buying new homes is expected to ease next year, resulting in a gradual release of pent-up demand, Liu said.

Recent policies to help developers raise financing will accelerate the on-time delivery of pre-sold homes in 2023, Liu said. And tax breaks for people who swap their old home for a new one and other measures are expected to boost housing demand. The property market should become stable in terms of both supply and price, he added.

Year on year, new home prices fell in 51 cities and pre-owned housing prices dipped in 64 cities, both the same number as in October. In first-tier cities, new home prices climbed 2.5 percent from a year ago, while pre-owned housing prices edged up 1.2 percent. This was a narrowing of 0.1 percentage point from October’s gains. Prices of new and pre-owned homes in second-tier cities slid 1.2 percent and 3.2 percent respectively.

Investment in residential housing plunged 9.2 percent in the first 11 months from a year earlier to CNY9.4 trillion (USD1.4 trillion), the NBS said. The floor area sold contracted 26.2 percent to one billion square meters, and transaction value plummeted 28.4 percent to CNY1.4 trillion (USD201 billion). While the area for sale expanded 18 percent to 262.9 million square meters.

Editor: Kim Taylor