real estate market Photo:VCG

Most indicators for China's real estate sector were still in decline in July, as the industry remained in a correction trajectory, but the drop in some key indicators has shown signs of narrowing thanks to the government's policy support, Liu Aihua, spokesperson and chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said on Thursday.

Next, Chinese authorities will continue to reduce existing housing inventory and optimizing new supply, while actively supporting the acquisition of existing commercial housing to support affordable housing, so as to accelerate the development of new models in the real estate industry and facilitate its healthy development, Liu said. 

The comments were made at a press briefing of the State Council Information Office held on Thursday where key indexes for the Chinese economy in July were released. 

According to the freshly-released date, China's investment in the property sector slumped 10.2 percent year-on-year in the first seven months, while the country's overall fixed-asset investment achieved a growth of 3.6 percent during the same period. 

Meanwhile, the sales area of newly constructed commercial housing decreased by 18.6 percent year-on-year from January to July, but the decline slowed down by 0.4 percentage points compared to the first six months. 

The sales of newly constructed commercial housing also decreased by 24.3 percent year-on-year in the first seven months, however the range of decline narrowed by 0.7 percent. 

The funds in place for real estate developers slumped by 21.3 percent year-on-year in January-July period, yet the decline also narrowed by 1.3 percentage points from the first half of 2024, NBS data showed. 

"The data shows that stimulus policies for the property sector have been taking effect, and the improvement offers an encouraging signal during property adjustment," Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Yan stressed that the slew of indicators also plays a positive role in shoring up market confidence and stabilizing expectations. 

Chinese authorities have put in place favorable policies to help put the property sector on a firmer footing after a period of correction.

At a meeting held by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on July 30 to make arrangements for economic work in the second half of the year, Chinese officials stressed that it is imperative to implement the new policies for the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. Also, work must be done to ensure the delivery of presold houses, and accelerate the establishment of a new model for the development of the real estate sector, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

To date, a number of Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai have mulled over more policies to ease home buying, including lowering the minimum down payment ratio for first-time home buyers and cutting mortgage rates. 

Data from various property agencies showed that in June and July, the number of online contracts for second-hand home purchases saw a significant jump both year-on-year and month-on-month, which is expected to further boost the property market, the Beijing Daily reported on Thursday.

Additionally, on May 17, China announced a series of measures to prop up the real estate market by cutting down payments and mortgage rates and provident-fund loan interest rates in what industry insiders described as an "unprecedented" move to shore up the market.