China home prices, sales slip further in January, report shows

(Reuters) - China's sales of new housing and prices for existing residential units both continued to decline in January, a leading real estate research institute said on Saturday.

The average price per square meter for existing residential properties was down just over 7% in January from a year earlier based on a survey of markets in China's top 100 cities, China Index Academy said in a monthly report.

The value of property sales by the top 100 real-estate developers was down almost 17% in January on year, the research institute said.

China's residential property market, which once accounted for a quarter of economic output at its peak in 2021, has become a major drag on the economy and a cause for concern for households, investors and Chinese policymakers.

In the closing months of 2024, China's central and local governments stepped up efforts to boost sentiment and promote new home purchases through a range of steps, including subsidies for consumers and financing for state-owned enterprises.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters expect property sales and prices in China to fall further this year but at a slower pace than in 2024.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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