The latest statistics on changes in commercial housing sales prices released by the National Bureau of Statistics on April 16 showed that in March, the activity of the housing market transactions increased. Among the 70 large and medium-sized cities, the number of cities with month-on-month increase in commercial housing sales prices increased; the sales prices of commercial housing in first-tier cities rose month-on-month, and the overall decline in sales prices in second- and third-tier cities narrowed; the year-on-year decline in each tier city continued to narrow.

  Wang Zhonghua, chief statistician of the Urban Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, introduced that in March, the sales prices of newly built commercial housing in first-tier cities rose by 0.1% month-on-month, the same as last month. Among them, Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.7% and 0.1% respectively, while Beijing and Guangzhou fell 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. The sales price of second-hand residential properties changed from a month-on-month decrease of 0.1% to a 0.2% increase from the previous month. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen rose by 0.5%, 0.4% and 0.3% respectively, while Guangzhou fell by 0.2%.

  The sales prices of newly built commercial housing in second-tier cities remained the same month-on-month, the same as last month, and the second-hand housing fell by 0.2% month-on-month, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.

  The sales price of newly built commercial housing in third-tier cities fell by 0.2% month-on-month, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point, and the second-hand housing fell by 0.3% month-on-month, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point.

  At present, various regions continue to push the real estate market to stop falling and stabilize. Research by China Index Academy shows that after this year's Spring Festival, driven by the increase in supply of high-quality projects and the traditional marketing season, the transaction volume of new and second-hand houses in first-tier cities has maintained a recovery trend.

  The activity of first-tier cities has increased significantly. Yue Wei, an analyst at Beijing Lianjia Research Institute, said that in March, 4,151 new commercial housing units (excluding shared-ownership housing) were sold in Beijing, up 51.7% year-on-year and 107% month-on-month, and the transaction volume was close to the transaction level in October last year. In addition, the online signing volume of second-hand residential properties in Beijing was 19,234 units, a month-on-month increase of 62.0% and a year-on-year increase of 34.7%. In March, the number of online signings for second-hand houses was the second highest in the past 24 months (second only to December 2024), and the significant increase in online signings reflected the continuation of market popularity after the Spring Festival.

  In addition to transactions, the land market in many cities is also very active. This shows that real estate companies have increased their confidence in the future market and their financial situation is improving. Cao Jingjing, general manager of the Index Research Department of China Index Academy, believes that the heating up of land auctions in core cities is that as the real estate sales end has stabilized in phases since the fourth quarter of last year, real estate companies are unanimously optimistic about new home sales in core cities and have a high willingness to replenish their positions. At the same time, land acquisition at the beginning of the year can enter the sales stage that year, which will help to recover funds and improve turnover efficiency.

  Yu Xiaofen, director of the China Housing and Real Estate Research Institute of Zhejiang University of Technology, believes that localities have actively adjusted the supply structure, increased the supply of high-quality land in core areas, and launched a lot of "small and beautiful" land. Taking Hangzhou as an example, among the 20 commercial residential land sold this year, 90% of the single land plot does not exceed 90,000 square meters. These lands are fully equipped and have a moderate floor area ratio, making them more suitable for the development of high-quality residential buildings.

  At present, localities are still actively optimizing real estate-related policies. For example, many places have optimized provident fund loan policies, and the optimization direction mainly includes reducing the down payment ratio of provident fund loans for first and second houses, increasing the maximum amount of provident fund loans, optimizing the recognition standards for housing units for provident fund loans, optimizing the "commercial to public", and supporting the withdrawal of provident fund for down payments. In addition, some cities have launched special financial products, and some cities have increased policy support in terms of housing purchase subsidies and housing "old for new ones".

  Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, introduced that under the influence of policies, the real estate market continued to stop falling and stabilize, and market transactions continued to improve. Since the fourth quarter of last year, the real estate industry has been continuously promoted to stop falling and stabilize. Relevant departments have formulated a series of policies to improve real estate investment, increase the renovation of old urban communities, increase the construction of affordable housing, and propose a "whitelist" system for real estate companies and provide financial loan support. Overall, the policy effect continues to emerge, and the operating conditions of real estate companies have improved.

  The real estate market is still in the adjustment stage, and demand needs to be further released. Experts suggest that in the future, all localities should further implement a series of central government policies and measures on promoting the stop of real estate decline and stability, continue to increase the construction of "good houses", actively build a new model of real estate development, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the industry. (Reporter Kang Shu)

[Editor in charge: Li Lin]