THE sales volume and price of new residences kept shrinking after a string of polices were issued, especially after the central bank raised its loan rate starting on Aug 19.

Average prices of residential apartments dropped by 10.5 percent last week from a week earlier to 8,056 yuan (US$1,011) per square meter, with the transacted volume down 3.9 percent to 1,796 units, said the official data supplier of property market.

Housing prices of residences inside the Inner Ring Road plunged by 12.1 percent in the period, among which the price of apartments fell by 10 percent. August is an off-season for property transactions. Most developers are holding a wait-and-see type of attitude towards the real estate industry.

The People's Bank of China raised the one-year loan rate from 5.85 percent to 6.12 percent on Saturday. At the same time, the five-year loan rate grew to 6.84 percent from 6.39 percent. But the central bank also expanded the preferential rate of a housing loan to 85 percent from 90 percent.

Source:佚名