A building is under construction in the central Huangpu District, Shanghai, China, January 17. 2025. /CFP
Editor's note: Wu Yuzhe is a professor and director of the Institute of Land Science and Property, Zhejiang University. This article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. It has been translated from Chinese and edited for brevity and clarity.
In 2024. China's real estate market gradually showed signs of recovery. The Chinese government maintained the principle that "housing is for living in, not for speculation" and implemented targeted, precise policies tailored to local conditions.
On May 17 and October 17. new policies were introduced to stimulate the real estate market, including cutting minimum down payment ratios, lowering mortgage rates and optimizing housing provident fund policies. These measures significantly incentivized people to buy homes and increased investment in affordable rental housing, addressing the diverse housing needs of different groups and stabilizing market expectations.
Particularly, at the Central Economic Work Conference held December 11-12. it was proposed that it is essential to advance the renovation of shanty towns in cities and dilapidated houses and fully unleash the potential demand of people looking to buy their first homes or improving their housing conditions. It was announced that work would be done to reasonably control the supply of newly added real estate land, make good use of existing land resources as well as commercial and office properties, and advance the disposal of existing commodity housing.
As a result, the supply-demand relationship in the real estate market gradually balanced and housing prices remained relatively stable.
According to China Real Estate Information Corp. data, in December, the national transaction area of commodity housing in 30 key cities was 18.01 million square meters, a month-on-month increase of 15 percent and a year-on-year growth of 17 percent. The transaction volume also rose by 2 percent compared to December 2022. reaching the highest level for the same period in nearly three years. Additionally, data from the China Index Academy shows that in December 2024. the average price of newly built residential properties across 100 Chinese cities was 16.654 yuan (about $2.281) per square meter, a 0.37 percent increase month on month and a 2.68 percent growth year on year.
