China's Home Prices Fall: A Nine-Year Record Decline

China's new home prices experienced the steepest decline in nine years in July. Despite Beijing's efforts to support the sector, prices dropped 4.9% year-on-year. This downturn poses challenges for the country's economic growth targets, with property sales also significantly decreasing.

China's new home prices plummeted at the fastest rate in nine years this July, according to official data released on Thursday. Efforts to stabilize the market have faltered, leading to a 4.9% year-on-year decline.

New home prices have now fallen for the 13th consecutive month, matching a 0.7% drop seen in June. This level of decline was last recorded in June 2015.

Despite significant policy measures including lowered mortgage rates and reduced home-buying costs, Beijing's strategies have not revived the housing sector, a key economic driver that once contributed to a quarter of the GDP. Analysts suggest that achieving the 5% GDP growth target for 2024 may be overly ambitious.

Property sales data also paints a grim picture with a substantial 18.6% decline in floor area sales for the period of January to July, compared to a 19.0% drop in the previous period.

(With inputs from agencies.)