China home sales see first year-on-year rise of 2024 on stimulus blitz

China's residential property sales rose in October, the first year-on-year increase of 2024, as the government's latest stimulus blitz brought back buyers.

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BEIJING -

The value of new home sales from the 100 biggest real estate companies rose 7.1 per cent from a year earlier to 435.5 billion yuan (S$81 billion), reversing from a 37.7 per cent slump in September, according to preliminary data from China Real Estate Information. Sales surged 73 per cent from a month earlier.

The improvement came after China unleashed its strongest package of measures, including cutting borrowing costs on existing mortgages, relaxing buying curbs in big cities and easing down payment requirements.

That said, the recovery was lopsided, with state developers benefiting the most from the stimulus.