Two interest-rate cuts in three months and the removal of property purchase curbs have so far failed to revive Chinas housing market, with the pace of price declines accelerating in February.
However, the weak data could bring a policy windfall from the government with more support measures, analysts said.
New home prices fell in 66 of the 70 cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics, compared with 64 in January, the agency said on Wednesday. Prices rose in two cities and were unchanged in another two.
These findings translate into a 0.46 percent month-on-month decline, according to calculations from the research team of Bank of Communications Ltd, compared with a 0.43 percent drop in January.
Existing-home prices dropped month-on-month in 61 cities, the same as in January.
The picture was mixed in the first-tier cities. Existing-home prices in Shenzhen and Shanghai rose compared with January, but prices fell in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Liu Jianwei, an economist with the NBS, said the decline reflects slack sales during the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in mid-February this year.
Previously released NBS data showed that in the first two months, residential sales slumped 17.8 percent year-on-year by area and 16.7 percent by value.
Liu said historical data indicated that sales in March would "significantly increase".
Persistent weak data have convinced observers that more stimulus policies are in the pipeline. Citing an expert with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Beijing-based China Times reported that the down payment ratio for second homes would be reduced to 50 percent from a minimum of 60 percent at present.
Adding to the hope was Premier Li Keqiangs supportive tone in a news conference on Sunday, when he said China would support demand from first-home buyers and those seeking to upgrade.
Jingsong Du, a property analyst at Credit Suisse Group based, said that comment was "the most accommodative in the past 10 years".
Tom Orlik, chief North Asia economist of Bloomberg, said that the message from Li confirmed the belief that the policy has swung full circle, from controlling speculators to bolstering demand.
However, sales remain weak. One reason, Orlik said, was that as prices fall, speculators find other places to park their cash.
"A second reason is that the credit torrent that drove the housing boom in past years has dried to a trickle," he said, noting that despite cuts in interest rates and banks reserve requirement ratios, loan growth continues to slow.
Many local governments have ramped up efforts to bolster sales after finding that easing curbs on purchases had little impact. China Business News reported that the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province may offer subsidies to homebuyers and acquire unsold units from developers to be used as social housing.
Fujian, Sichuan, Anhui, Jiangsu and other locations have taken similar steps to reduce inventories, the newspaper said.
Shanghais housing authorities denied media reports that the city will scrap or loosen its buying restrictions. But banking sources in the city said that some minor adjustments to buying conditions would be announced soon.
Still, a broad-based recovery is not yet in sight. So far this month, the widely expected sales turnaround has yet to materialize.
Sales in the first half of March in the 50 cities monitored by the China Real Estate Information Corp were flat year-on-year, and the first half of March 2014 was already a weak base of comparison.
In Beijing, sales slumped 35 percent year-on-year, although sales in Shanghai rose 23 percent.
Yang Kewei, an analyst with the CRIC, said the sales slump in Beijing was largely because few new projects were released by developers in March.
Both builders and homebuyers in Beijing were waiting for more clarity from the government.
"Both sides are staying on the sidelines in anticipation of concrete policies in April, and transactions will warm up then," Yang said.
Asia, Australia & Oceanic Stories
24/04/2024
SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show ...
24/04/2024
Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gon alves and Peggy Giakoumelos on n...
24/04/2024
24 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia celebrates Australian projects bound...
23/04/2024
Social entrepreneur Hedayat Osyan wins Les Murray Award for Refugee Recognition
23 April, 2024
Media releases
The prestigious award is now in its third yea...
22/04/2024
SBS marks Earth Day with Australian TV milestone as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw b...
18/04/2024
Alone Australia goes from strength to strength
18 April, 2024
Media releases
The program again delivers for SBS with significant uplifts in digital BVOD vi...
18/04/2024
18 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative
Savage River
Screen Australia and Los Angeles-based telev...
16/04/2024
ABS Agility Beyond Space announces Appointment of Mark Rigolle as its Chief Ex...
11/04/2024
Alone Australia Ep 2 reaches over 1m Australians
11 April, 2024
Media releases
The program continues to consistently grow week-on-week in linear audience w...
11/04/2024
11 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Meta launch fourth year of First...
10/04/2024
10 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $2.3 million for nine documentaries
Guardians of the River
Screen Australia has announced nine doc...
09/04/2024
Groundbreaking NITV documentary series Our Law expands across Australia from Thu...
09/04/2024
Techtel, the creators of inflo, today announced that a new speech to text transcription engine from openai called Whisper, is available to inflo customers who a...
04/04/2024
Manu Feildel, Miranda Otto and Pat Rafter join life-changing new season of Who D...
04/04/2024
Alone Australia season 2 continues to redefine Australian TV viewing through on-...
27/03/2024
Living Black, the longest-running Indigenous current affairs television program ...
26/03/2024
Crime is relative in SBS's new Canneseries nominated crime-family drama with...
25/03/2024
SBS gears up for Season 2 of Alone Australia with the creation of Alone Cologne...
22/03/2024
SBS Learn partners with the Islamic Museum of Australia to support classrooms in...
21/03/2024
21 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $1.6 million in support of the games industry
Which Way Up: Galaxy Games
Screen Australia has anno...
18/03/2024
18 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and VicScreen launch new Screen Careers initiative
LTR Denise Eriksen, Esther Coleman Hawkins, Caroline Pitcher, K...
15/03/2024
15 03 2024 - Media release The Creators 2024 Participants Announced
The Creators program recipients. L-R Thomas Duncan-Watt, Vanessa Gazy, Sarah Lambert, Lea...
14/03/2024
SBS to mark Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with all Australians
14 March, 2024
Media releases
Content in 22 languages*, a collection of movies to stream free on d...
14/03/2024
March 14,2024
-- KDDI Corporation
KDDI Corporation resolved at a meeting of the Board of Directors held today to change (newly appointed, retire) a director ...
13/03/2024
13 03 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces dramas Critical Incident and Sunny Nights for Stan
Critical Incident: Akshay Khanna and Zoe Boe. Photo c...
07/03/2024
Explore the afterlife with SBS podcast Grave Matters'
6 March, 2024
Media releases
Most of us are woefully unprepared for one of life's few certai...
06/03/2024
Multi-award winning electronic music duo to represent Australia at this year'...
06/03/2024
Developing Lunar 3GPP Mobile Network Technologies for Moon Exploration
GITA...
04/03/2024
SBS announces new development fund to discover Australia's biggest and riski...
28/02/2024
Yumi Stynes returns for season two of SBS podcast SEEN'
26 February, 2024
Media releases
Eight new trailblazers join feminist Australian icon Yumi Sty...
28/02/2024
28 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $810,000 in development funding for 29 projects
Willy
Screen Australia has announced 23 feature fi...
27/02/2024
27 02 2024 - Media release Michael Ebeid AM appointed as new Screen Australia Chair
Michael Ebeid AM and Megan Brownlow
The Hon. Minister for the Arts, Tony...
26/02/2024
Supporting AFEELAs entertainment experience and global launch with a communicati...
21/02/2024
21 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Australians in Film Announce App...
21/02/2024
Aiming to deliver new video-related solutions utilizing 5G SA this year
Son...
21/02/2024
Support the team with gifts while enjoying AR games in the stadium
KDDI COR...
21/02/2024
KDDI CORPORATION
February 21,2024
-- Tokyo, February 21, 2024 From February 2...
20/02/2024
KDDI CORPORATION
February 20,2024
-- KDDI announces that its consolidated subsidiary, SORACOM, INC. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Ken Tamagawa, herei...
15/02/2024
Alone Australia Season 2 Returns 27 March | Meet the Cast
15 February, 2024
Media releases
Smash hit series Alone Australia returns Wednesday 27 March on S...
15/02/2024
NITV's flagship footy show Over the Black Dot returns Tuesday 5 March, live ...
15/02/2024
15 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces over $560,000 for crew and gamemaker skills programs
Liz Keogh Palmer (Australian Production Design Guil...
13/02/2024
2024 is a landmark year for SBS's award-winning current affairs line-up, cov...
13/02/2024
22 01 2024 - Media release Six Australian projects bound for South by Southwest Festival in the US
Audrey, Birdeater, The Moogai
Six Australian screen projec...
12/02/2024
12 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and YouTube Australia Launch Skip Ahead 9
Uncovering Street Dance: Australia from Skip Ahead 8. Photographed by Ry...
08/02/2024
08 02 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and ABC announce Bay of Fires is back for season two
Marta Dusseldorp as Stella in Bay of Fires
ABC, Screen Austr...
07/02/2024
4 in 10 Australians battling sleep issues as nation's sleep crisis grows
7 February, 2024
Media releases
Dr Michael Mosley and the sleep scientists fro...
06/02/2024
Six screen creatives selected for the 2024 SBS Emerging Writers' Incubator i...
02/02/2024
SBS Scripted TV Lunch sessions return for another year of connecting with creati...
02/02/2024
February 2,2024
-- KDDI Corporation
KDDI announced the financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2024.
Summary In the third q...
Two interest-rate cuts in three months and the removal of property purchase curbs have so far failed to revive Chinas housing market, with the pace of price declines accelerating in February.
