Year-on-year growth in both the area and value of commercial property sales has fallen sharply following the introduction of measures by the Chinese government to rein in the market.
The latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics indicates that the area of commercial property sold during the first four months of the year rose 15.7% year-on-year, for a decline 3.8 percentage points compared to the figure for the first quarter.
The area of residential housing sold increased 13.0%, while office space sales rose 49.3% and commercial property grew 30.6%.
The total value of commercial property sold rose 20.1% year-on-year to 3,322.3 billion yuan, for a growth slowdown of 5 percentage points. The value of residential house sales increased 16.1%, while for office space and commercial property the figures were 50.4% and 41.4% respectively.
Slowing growth in property sales has done little thus far to diminish real estate investment, however, which has risen to its highest level in over two years.
Real estate investment continues to rise unabated, however, with NBS data showing that nationwide real estate investment and land purchase areas both rising to new highs.
Xing Zhihong, head of NBS’s National Economy Integrated Statistics Department, said that cyclical factors were responsible for the growth in real estate investment, with ongoing construction projects launched last year expected to continue drawing capital for some time.
Another factor behind growth in real estate investment has been large-scale increases in land and housing supplies in first-tier cities, as part of efforts by municipal governments to suppress overly rapid growth in home prices.
