(Yicai) Jan. 17 -- Housing prices in China’s four first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, advanced in December from the month before and there has been an uptick in investment and sales in the country’s property sector, all of which are further indications that the real estate market is stabilizing.

On first glance, last year’s statistics paint a glum picture. The floor area of housing sold sank 12.9 percent in 2024 from the year before to 974 million square meters, national investment in real estate development slumped 10.6 percent to CNY10 trillion (USD1.3 trillion), while sales of newly built homes plunged 17.1 percent to CNY9.6 trillion, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today

However, there are positive signals that the real estate market is on the road to recovery. In terms of investment, the decline in investment in the development of residential properties last year was the same as in the first 11 months. And on the sales front, the floor area of new home sales increased in October and November both from the year before and from the previous month, according to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Signs that the market is stabilizing is also reflected in the house prices. In December, the price of newly built housing in first-tier cities climbed 0.2 percent from the month before, marking the first increase since June 2023, according to NBS figures. While the price of pre-owned homes advanced 0.3 percent from the previous month, gaining for the third consecutive month.

The month-on-month decline in housing prices in the smaller second- and third-tier cities narrowed, while the year-on-year slump in prices in first-, second- and third-tier cities continued to shrink.

In December, 23 out of 70 medium-sized and large metropolises logged a month-on-month increase in the price of new builds. This was six more than in November. And in terms of second-hand homes, nine municipalities reported a month-on-month increase in prices, one less than in November.

"The pace of recovery in the real estate market by the end of last year slightly exceeded market expectations," Feng Bo, deputy director of Chengdu’s urban construction and development research institute, told Yicai.

There will be a seasonal uptick in the property market in the first quarter which will support housing prices, said Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Guangdong Urban and Rural Planning and Design Institute’s housing policy research center.

However, more policies need to be implemented soon to reduce the number of idle properties on the market and to support the renovation of urban shanty-towns, the latter of which is key to stabilizing housing prices in 2025, Li said.

"With the roll out of more central government policies to boost housing consumption, market confidence is gradually recovering, and price expectations are conducive to further unlocking market demand," Wang Yeqiang, director of the real estate committee of the China Society of Urban Economics, told Yicai.

Editor: Kim Taylor