PURCHASES of new homes in China saw double-digit declines in both volume and value in the first two months of this year as government tightening measures continued.
Sales of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, fell 16 percent year on year to 61.18 million square meters across the country in January and February, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
By value, they fell 24.7 percent year on year to 336.6 billion yuan (US$53.4 billion).
"The overall buying sentiment remained slack during the two-month period despite a notable increase in February after the end of the Spring Festival," said Tang Zhengwei, an analyst at real estate website Soufun.com.
"With austerity measures strictly in place, more real estate developers across the country are expected to join price-cutting campaigns over the coming months which might likely lead to increased sales."
More than 90 percent of 54 cities tracked by Soufun recorded month-on-month increases in volume in February though only 61 percent were able to secure year-on-year growth.
Investment in residential development, meanwhile, rose 23.2 percent year on year to 371.3 billion yuan, decelerating from a growth of more than 30 percent in the first two months of 2011, the bureau said.
Builders around the country broke ground on 148.32 million square meters of homes in the first two months of this year, almost the same as the equivalent period a year ago.
Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress earlier this week that China would proceed with efforts to impose property curbs and ensure strict enforcement until home prices dropped to affordable levels on a sustainable basis.
Home prices in China fell for the sixth straight month in February.
Prices fell an average of 0.3 percent from January in 100 major cities across the country, the largest monthly drop since last September, according to a survey by the China Index Academy.