China's latest batch of home sales data signaled patches of continued weakness in the property market, despite more policy efforts to boost the sector.
Prices of new homes in 70 major Chinese cities in July edged down 0.65% in month-on-month terms, compared with a 0.67% decline in June, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal based on data from China's National Bureau of Statistics.
Among 70 cities surveyed by the statistics bureau, 66 of them reported a month-over-month price drop in July, up from 64 cities in June.
Meanwhile, new-home prices fell 5.3% in July compared to a year earlier, faster than the 4.9% year-over-year decline recorded in June.
There were 68 cities reporting year-over-year price falls compared with June's 68 cities, according to official data released Thursday.
China's property market has been mired in a years-long slump, denting consumer and business confidence in the world's second-largest economy. While Beijing announced its boldest property rescue measures yet in May, this has so far failed to engineer a meaningful rebound and many economists generally believe more needs to be done.
Write to Singapore editors at singaporeeditors@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-14-24 2156ET
