Chinese cities rein in home prices

     BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhuanet) -- More Chinese cities have seen month-on-month declines in the prices of both new and secondhand homes, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday.

    The NBS said in a statement on its website that month-on-month price growth for new commercial homes was reported in 50 out of the NBS's statistical¹ pool of 70 major cities. That compared to 56 cities reporting month-on-month growth in April.

    New home prices declined from a month ago in nine cities and stood unchanged in 11 cities, while 27 cities posted smaller monthly price gains, said the NBS.

    As for resold housing units, 23 cities reported second-hand² home price declines month-on-month in May, up from 16 in April. Secondhand home prices stayed unchanged in 11 major cities in May from April, according to the NBS.

    On a year-on-year basis, the prices of new commercial homes declined in three cities, including Hangzhou and Sanya, both of which were hot spots for real estate speculation³ in the past. Meanwhile, 36 cities saw lower year-on-year growth, up from 29 in April, said the NBS.

    Secondhand home prices dropped in four cities from one year ago, while 29 cities reported declines in year-on-year price growth from April.

    The NBS stopped releasing overall housing prices for 70 major cities in January, citing the fact that overall price figures for the cities failed to reflect regional differences. The NBS is also using a new surveying method to determine price changes.

    The government has adopted various measures to cool the property market and curb⁴ rising prices, including restricting residents in major cities from buying second or third homes, requiring higher down payments for mortgages and instituting new property taxes in the cities of Chongqing and Shanghai.

    But there has not been a significant drop in home prices. The latest central bank survey of urban bank depositors found that more than one-third of respondents anticipated home prices would remain stable in the second half of the year.

    The survey, which is carried out quarterly among 20,000 urban bank depositors in 50 major cities, said 25.9 percent of respondents believed prices would continue to rise, while only 18.9 percent expected a decline.

    Meanwhile, the survey showed that 74.3 percent of residents said housing prices in the second quarter were "too high to afford", almost the same as during the first quarter.

    Experts and market observers said the Chinese property market is stagnant⁵ with home transactions remaining grim and no clear trend in prices.

    Yang Hongxu, an analyst⁶ with the Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute, said the May figure has continued April's downward trend in prices, but the cooling of the market will happen gradually.

    The NBS announced on Tuesday that property developers sold 329.32 million square meters of commercial houses nationwide in the first five months of this year, an increase of only 9.1 percent year-on-year.

    The NBS said that investment in the nation's property sector⁷ has maintained strong growth by rising 34.6 percent year-on-year to reach 1.87 trillion yuan ($288.6 billion) in the January-May period, which might have been a result of affordable⁸ housing investment.

    Figures from the NBS also reflected that property developers are getting less funding from banks, as the government continued to raise borrowing costs for developers and tighten⁹ liquidity¹⁰ in the market.

    Developers obtained 580.3 billion yuan from domestic loans in the first five months, up 4.6 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, they used 26.6 billion yuan of foreign investment in the sector, posting a year-on-year rise of 57.3 percent.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

2 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

3 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

4 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

5 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

8 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

9 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

10 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。