China Dec new home prices fall at slower pace

BEIJING: China’s December new home prices declined at a slower pace compared with a month earlier, a private-sector survey showed on Saturday, offering a tentative sign of stabilising demand after authorities took steps to avert a hard landing for the market.

New home prices in 100 cities fell 0.02% in December from a month earlier, narrowing from the 0.04% drop in November, according to data from China Index Academy, one of the country’s largest independent real estate research firms.

China’s property sector was hammered in 2021 after Beijing stepped up its deleveraging campaign against highly indebted developers that worsened a liquidity crisis, delayed project completions and rocked buyer sentiment.