China: Housing market continued to cool in July – Nomura

The average property price growth across 70 cities of China in July moderated by another 0.2 percentage points, to 0.5% m-o-m, notes the analysis team at Nomura.

Key Quotes

“The pace of growth eased significantly in second- and third/ fourth-tier cities, while property prices were largely flat in top-tier cities. Prices in Guangzhou rose, but fell slightly in Beijing and Shenzhen.”

“Of the 70 cities, the number of those that saw home prices fall or remain unchanged rose to 14 in July from 10 in June. We believe this was in part due to the government’s continued efforts to cool the market and tighten liquidity.”

“We continue to expect the property sector to cool in H2 2017, which may weigh on fixed asset investment growth and economic growth through the rest of the year.”

“We expect the People’s Bank of China to maintain its neutral and prudent monetary policy stance, with continued restrictive policies to curb the property bubble.”