Gao Yunduan

China completed investment in real estate development of RMB2.1147 trillion in the first eight months of this year, an increase of 14.7% year on year, which enlarged 3.1 percentage points over the first seven months, but narrowed 14.4 percentage points from the same period of last year. Of this, investment in residential buildings amounted to RMB1.4848 trillion, up 10.9% year on year, which was 2.7 percentage points higher than the first seven months, but 20.8 percentage points lower than the same period of last year, and accounting for 70.2% of the total investment in real estate development of the country.

Areas of housing under construction of real estate development enterprises reached 2.629 billion square meters, up 13.5% year on year, which was 1.0 percentage point higher than the first seven months; areas of housing newly started construction were 631 million square meters, down 5.9%, which was 3.2 percentage points smaller than the first seven months; and areas of housing completed construction, 292 million square meters, up 25.1%, which was 0.4 percentage points higher than the first seven months, including 241 million square meters of completed areas of residential buildings, up 26.8%, which was 0.2 percentage points over the first seven months.

Purchased land areas of real estate development enterprises were 186.31 million square meters, down 25.3% year on year; and completed areas of land development, 149.20 million square meters, down 9.7%.

Areas of sold housing reached 494.16 million square meters, up 42.9% year on year. Of this, areas of sold homes jumped 44.5%; office buildings up 18.5%, and buildings for commercial use up 29.4%. The country sold housing of RMB2.3464 trillion in the first eight months, surging 69.9% year on year, of which sales value of residential buildings rose 74.6%, and that of office buildings and buildings for commercial use went up 35.6% and 43.5% respectively.

Capital sources of real estate development enterprises for the year amounted to RMB3.3689 trillion, up 34.2% year on year. Of this, domestic loans were RMB738.4 billion, up 46.3%; use of foreign funds, RMB29.8 billion, down 33.6%; self-raised funds by enterprises, RMB1.1045 trillion, up 12.6%; and other funds, RMB1.4961 trillion, up 52.7%. Of the other funds, deposit funds and pre-payment money reached RMB871.2 billion, up 43.2%; and individual mortgage loans, RMB450.7 billion, up 94.1%.

In August, housing selling price in China’s 70 large and mid-size cities rose 2% year on year, which was one percentage point larger than July, and up 0.9% month on month.

Selling price of new homes rose 1.5% year on year and 1.1% month on month. For breakdowns, prices of affordable housing went up 0.5% year on year; that of residential buildings went up 1.7%, of which price of ordinary residential buildings up 2.2%; and that of high-grade residential buildings down 0.4%. Comparing with July, price of affordable housing went up 0.1%; and that of residential buildings up 1.2%, of which prices of both ordinary residential buildings and high-grade residential buildings up 1.2% respectiely.

Cities reporting price rises year on year in residential buildings were 52 in August. Of them, five cities made fast rises, namely Jinhua with the price up 7.5%; Ningbo, up 7.4%; Yinchuan, up 6.8%; Jinzhou, up 6.6%; and Xining, up 4.9%. Cities presenting price drops were 16, of which five made the biggest drops, namely Xuzhou, down 4.6%; Shijiazhuang, down 3.8%; Guilin, down 3.4%; Dandong, down 2.7% and Tangshan, down 2.4%.

Cities with new home selling price hike month on month numbered 66, of which five made the biggest rises, namely Jilin, up 3.2%; Jinhua, up 2.6%; Dali, up 2.6%; Yinchuan, up 2.2%; and Zhanjiang, up 2.1%. Four cities of Baotou, Ganzhou, Pingdingshan and Xiangfan maintained the same level as new home prices as compared with July.

Selling price of second-hand homes went up 3.6% year on year and 0.6% month on month. Cities registering year on year price rises numbered 47, of which five achieved the biggest rises, namely, Shenzhen, up 14.9%; Wenzhou, up 9.1%; Jinhua, up 8.1%; Hangzhou, up 7.8%; and Luoyang, up 7.2%. Cities with the price drops were 22, of which five were with the biggest declines, namely, Shijiazhuang, down 7.2%; Jilin, down 6.8%; Tangshan, down 6.5%; Yueyang, down 5.1%; and Zhanjiang, down 3.5%.

Price of office buildings went up 3.8% year on year in August, and 0.3% month on month; that of building for commercial use up 0.1% year on year and 0.3% month on month; and that of housing for other purposes up 0.6% year on year and 1.8% month on month.

China's real estate development climate index was 100.08 in August, up 2.07 points over July. To be specific, sub-index of real estate development investment was 97.75, up 1.47 points month on month; that on the yearly capital sources was 105.82, up 2.51 points; that of land development area, 93.25, up 0.70 points; vacant commodity housing, 89.31, up 0.68 points; and housing construction areas, 94.95, up 1.11 points.