China property market data points to continued recovery

China's property market remains on track for recovery with sentiment among both real estate developers and home buyers continuing to improve, according to data released on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Between January and April, about 2.83 trillion yuan (US$397.9 billion) worth of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, were sold around the country, a year-on-year drop of 16.5 percent but improving from the 23 percent decrease registered in the first quarter.

By area, new homes sold during the four-month period fell 18.7 percent to 299.16 million square meters, also narrowing from the year-over-year drop of 26 percent recorded in the first three months of 2020.

"Property sales continued to gather steam in China over the past month while appetite for real estate investment improved as well," said James Macdonald, head and senior director of Savills China research. "In April alone, about 107 million square meters of new homes were sold across the country, only a slight 1.5 percent decrease from the same period a year ago."

Investment in residential property development during the first four months fell 2.8 percent from the same period a year earlier to 2.4 trillion yuan, improving from a 7.2 percent decline in the first quarter.

On the inventory side, newly built homes available for sale as of the end of April stood at 248 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 2 percent. That compares with 252.57 million square meters by the end of March, according to the NBS.