(Combating new crown pneumonia) New home sales in more than one quarter fell by more than 30% in eastern second-tier cities
China News Agency, Beijing, April 3 (Reporter Pang Wuji) Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the transaction volume of China's new housing market declined significantly in the first quarter. However, since March, the property market in some regions has begun to pick up.
A report released by the E-House Real Estate Research Institute on the 3rd showed that in the first quarter, the transaction area of new homes in 40 cities in China dropped by over 30% year-on-year, with the second-tier cities in the east dropping the least and the third- and fourth-tier cities dropping the most.
Since March, transactions in the property market in many places have clearly recovered. The above report pointed out that in March 2020, the transaction area of new commercial residential buildings in 40 typical cities monitored increased by 316% month-on-month and 36% year-on-year. In March, the sales offices of most cities in the country gradually resumed development, and the supply of the property market also increased significantly compared to February. The transaction in the property market gradually picked up, but was still significantly lower than the same period last year.
The data released by the Shell Research Institute reflects the same trend. Statistics released recently by the agency show that affected by the epidemic, in the first quarter of 2020, the total transaction area and number of units sold in 66 large and medium-sized cities in China were 42.47 million square meters and 370,000 units, a cumulative year-on-year decline of 25.6% and 28%. .
Sales of real estate companies have also declined significantly. According to the statistics of the Shell Research Institute, in the first quarter, the total sales of the top 100 real estate companies decreased by 22.3% year-on-year. However, during the epidemic, major real estate companies turned to the front line to accumulate customers. At the same time, Evergrande and other real estate companies adopted discount sales strategies. The agency predicts that after the market enters the recovery period, leading real estate companies may drive a rapid recovery of the overall market.
It is worth noting that in the first quarter, the transaction volume of the property market in the second-tier eastern cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Xiamen remained relatively stable. According to the shell statistics, the transaction volume of commercial housing in Nanjing and Xiamen maintained an increase under the epidemic situation, with a year-on-year increase of 6% and 11% respectively; the decrease in Hangzhou transaction volume was only 5%.
Shen Xin, a researcher at the E-House Research Institute, also pointed out that in second-tier cities in the east, the smallest year-on-year decrease in transaction area in March. The real estate market in some cities has stabilized before the outbreak, and there are signs of rebound. These cities have been relatively less affected by the outbreak. In addition, Nanjing, Hangzhou and other cities have recovered earlier offline sales, so the transaction volume of the second-tier cities in the east has fallen relatively. smaller.
Looking ahead, Shen Xin believes that after the second quarter, the backlog of pre-purchased housing demand will gradually be released, but in the current economic and policy environment, the transaction in the property market in most cities does not have the conditions for a substantial increase. At present, the central government's control of the real estate has not changed. Affected by domestic and foreign epidemics, there is also a risk of decline in residents' income, which will curb the demand for home purchases to a certain extent. (Finish)