National Real Estate Development and Sales in the First Four Months of 2020

1. The completion of real estate investment

From January to April, the national real estate development investment was 3,310.3 billion yuan, down 3.3 percent year on year, 4.4 percentage points lower than that from January to March. Among them, the residential investment was 2,423.8 billion yuan, down 2.8 percent, 4.4 percentage points of decrease narrower.

From January to April, the investment in real estate development in the eastern region was 1,844.4 billion yuan, down 3.1 percent year-on-year, 3.0 percentage points lower than that from January to March; the investment in the central region was 641.8 billion yuan, down 10.6 percent, 8.1 percentage points lower; the investment in the western region was 734.2 billion yuan, up 3.7 percent, which was 0.8 percent decrease from January to March; the investment in the northeast region was 90 billion yuan, down 1.6 percent, 12.4 percentage points lower.

From January to April, the housing construction area of real estate development enterprises was 7,405.68 million square meters, up 2.5 percent year on year, 0.1 percentage point lower than that from January to March. Among them, the residential construction area was 5,210.43 million square meters, an increase of 3.8 percent. The area of new housing starts was 477.68 million square meters, down 18.4 percent, 8.8 percentage points of decrease narrower. Among them, the newly started residential area was 352.48 million square meters, down 18.7 percent. The completed area of the house was 192.86 million square meters, down 14.5 percent, 1.3 percentage points lower. Among them, the completed residential area was 137.09 million square meters, down 14.5 percent.

From January to April, the land acquisition area of real estate development enterprises was 31.51 million square meters, down 12.0 percent year-on-year, 10.6 percentage points lower than that from January to March; the land transaction price was 169.9 billion yuan, up 6.9 percent, which was 18.1 percent decrease from January to March.

2. Sales of Commercial Buildings

From January to April, the sales area of commercial housing was 339.73 million square meters, down 19.3 percent year on year, 7.0 percentage points lower than that from January to March. Among them, the sales area of residential buildings decreased by 18.7 percent, that of office buildings decreased by 32.0 percent, and that of commercial buildings decreased by 29.1 percent. The sales volume of commercial housing reached 3,186.3 billion yuan, down 18.6 percent, 6.1 percentage points lower than that from January to March. Among them, the sales of residential buildings decreased by 16.5 percent, that of office buildings decreased by 37.5 percent, and that of commercial buildings decreased by 34.5 percent.

From January to April, the sales area of commercial housing in the eastern region was 137.62 million square meters, down 17.5 percent year-on-year, 6.8 percentage points lower than that from January to March; the sales volume was 1,762.9 billion yuan, down 16.1 percent, 4.8 percentage points lower. The sales area of commercial housing in the central region was 89.82 million square meters, down 24.1 percent, with a decrease of 8.7 percentage points; the sales volume was 611.4 billion yuan, down 26.6 percent, with a decrease of 9.5 percentage points. The sales area of commercial housing in the western region was 100.85 million square meters, down 16.2 percent, with a decrease of 5.7 percentage points; the sales volume was 715.5 billion yuan, down 16.3 percent, with a decrease of 5.8 percentage points. The sales area of commercial housing in Northeast China was 11.44 million square meters, down 25.3 percent, with a decrease of 7.5 percentage points; the sales volume was 96.5 billion yuan, down 21.5 percent, with a decrease of 6.9 percentage points.

At the end of April, the area for sale of commercial housing was 522.55 million square meters, a decrease of 4.72 million square meters compared with that at the end of March. Among them, the area for sale of residential buildings decreased by 4.53 million square meters, the area for sale of office buildings decreased by 70,000 square meters, and the area for sale of commercial and business buildings decreased by 170,000 square meters.

3. Sources of Funds for Real Estate Development Enterprises

From January to April, the funds in place of real estate development enterprises reached 4,700.4 billion yuan, down 10.4 percent year on year, 3.4 percentage points lower than that from January to March. Among them, 873 billion yuan of domestic loans, down 2.5 percent; 2.3 billion yuan of foreign investment, down 31.6 percent; 1,487.5 billion yuan of self-raised funds, down 5.2 percent; 1,399 billion yuan of deposits and advances, down 18.9 percent; 760.1 billion yuan of personal mortgage loans, down 5.4 percent.

4. National Real Estate Climate Index

In April, the real estate development climate index (referred to as 'national housing climate index') was 98.86, 0.67 point higher than that in March.

Investment in Real Estate Development for January-April

Indicators	Absolute Value	Growth Rate Year-on-Year (%)
Investment in Real Estate (100 million yuan)	33103	-3.3
Of which: Residential Buildings	24238	-2.8
Office Buildings	1530	-4.8
Buildings for Commercial Business	3145	-10.4
Floor Space under Construction (10,000 sq.m)	740568	2.5
Of which: Residential Buildings	521043	3.8
Office Buildings	31348	-2.2
Buildings for Commercial Business	78232	-9.7
Floor Space of Houses Newly Started (10,000 sq.m)	47768	-18.4
Of which: Residential Buildings	35248	-18.7
Office Buildings	1370	-28.7
Buildings for Commercial Business	3873	-20.4
Floor Space of Buildings Completed (10,000 sq.m)	19286	-14.5
Of which: Residential Buildings	13709	-14.5
Office Buildings	703	-7.5
Buildings for Commercial Business	2151	-22.8
Land Acquisition Area (10,000 sq.m)	3151	-12.0
Value of Land Transactions (100 million yuan)	1699	6.9
Floor Space of Commercial Buildings Sold (10,000 sq.m)	33973	-19.3
Of which: Residential Buildings	29916	-18.7
Office Buildings	643	-32.0
Buildings for Business Use	1828	-29.1
Sales of Commercial Buildings (100 million yuan)	31863	-18.6
Of which: Residential Buildings	28291	-16.5
Office Buildings	883	-37.5
Buildings for Commercial Business	1920	-34.5
Floor Space of Commercial Housing for Sale (10,000 sq.m)	52255	1.7
Of which: Residential Buildings	24804	2.0
Office Buildings	3845	5.8
Buildings for Commercial Business	13152	-2.2
Sources of Funds for Real Estate Development Enterprises (100 million yuan)	47004	-10.4
Of which: Domestic Loans	8730	-2.5
Foreign Investment	23	-31.6
Self-raising Funds	14875	-5.2
Deposits and Advance Payments	13990	-18.9
Personal Mortgage	7601	-5.4

Real Estate Investment in Eastern, Central and Western Regions for January- April

Regions	Investment (100 million yuan)		Growth Rate Y/Y (%)
		Residential Buildings		Residential Buildings
National Total	33103	24238	-3.3	-2.8
Eastern	18444	13163	-3.1	-3.8
Central	6418	5004	-10.6	-8.5
Western	7342	5370	3.7	6.0
Northeastern	900	701	-1.6	-0.6

Sales of Commercial Buildings in Eastern, Central and Western Regions for January- April

Regions	Floor Space of Commercial Buildings Sold		Sales of Commercial Buildings
	Absolute Value (1000 Sq.m)	Growth Rate Y/Y (%)	Absolute Value (100 million yuan)	Growth Rate Y/Y (%)
National Total	33973	-19.3	31863	-18.6
Eastern	13762	-17.5	17629	-16.1
Central	8982	-24.1	6114	-26.6
Western	10085	-16.2	7155	-16.3
Northeastern	1144	-25.3	965	-21.5

Annotations:

1. Explanation of Indicator

The total investment in real estate development this year: refers to the investment of all construction projects for housing, land development projects, public welfare construction and land acquisition costs in the reporting period. The index is cumulatively statistical data based on the principle of image progress.

Area of commercial buildings sold: refer total areas sold of new commercial buildings in the contract during the reporting period (i.e. area of floor space designated in the formal contract signed by both sides). The indicator is cumulative data.

Value of commercial buildings sold: refers to the total contracted vale of new commercial buildings for sale during the reporting period (i.e. the total value of sales for selling of commercial building as designated in the formal contract signed by both sides). This indicator is cumulative data, as well as the sale of floor space of commercial buildings.

The sources of funds for real estate development enterprises in the year: refers to various currencies and sources of real estate development funds actually available by the real estate development enterprises in the reporting period. Specifically, it includes domestic loans, foreign investment, self-raised funds and other funds. The index is cumulative data.

Floor space of buildings under construction: refers to the total floor space of all buildings by the real estate development enterprises during the reference time. Including floor space newly started in current year, floor space of continued construction of the building from the former period, floor space of stopped or postponed in the previous period but recovered in current year, floor space completed during current year, and newly started floor space in current year but postponed. Floor space under construction of multi-story buildings refers to the total floor space of all stories.

Floor space of houses newly started: refers to floor space of houses newly started by the real estate development enterprises during the reference time, the unit project as the accounting object. Not including continued construction area of housing which started in the previous period, and restarted construction area in the current year but stopped or postponed in the previous period. Specific due date is subject to starts to housing officially began ground-breaking gouge (ground treatment or permanent piles). Floor space of houses newly started refers to the entire floor spaces of whole building; the calculation cannot be separated.

Floor space of buildings completed: refers to housing construction during the reporting period have been completed in accordance with design requirements, achieved to living and conditions of use, acceptance of accreditation standards or to the final acceptance, total building areas could formally hand over to be used.

Land acquisition area: refers to land area by the real estate development enterprises in the year through various ways to obtain land.

Value of land transactions: refers to final amount of transactions of land use rights by the real estate development enterprises. In the primary land market, refers to the final section of land allocation, 'auction' price and sale price; the secondary land market, refers to the finalize the contract price on land transfer, lease, mortgage, etc. Price of land transactions and land acquisition area are the same scope, December calculate the average purchase price of land.

2. Statistics coverage

All real estate development and corporate business units.

3. Survey methods

Collected monthly with complete enumeration (no report in January).

4. Brief description on national real estate climate index

The national real estate climate index follows the theory of economic cycle fluctuation, based on the business cycle theory and business cycle analysis, using time series, multivariate statistics, econometric analysis, taking real estate development and investment as the benchmarks, selecting related indicators such as real estate investment, capital, area, sales, excluding the impact of seasonal factors, including random factors, compiled by adopting the growth rate cycles method. The historical data will be revised monthly according to the newly added data. National real estate index selected year 2012 as the base year, and its growth rate was set at 100. Typically, the most appropriate level of national real estate climate index is 100, the moderate level is between 95 and 105, the lower level is below 95, and the higher level is above 105.

5. Division on eastern, central, western and northeastern regions

Eastern region includes Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong, and Hainan. Central region includes Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, and Hunan. Western region includes Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang. Northeastern region includes Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang.