(Bloomberg) -- China’s home-price growth slowed for a fourth month in September, as cash-strapped developers cut prices to speed up sales.
- New-home prices, excluding state-subsidized housing, rose 0.53% last month from August in 70 major cities, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday. That’s the smallest gain since February.
- The slowdown may be even more widespread. A report Friday showed average home prices across the country fell 0.4% last month, signaling weakening prices in smaller cities not included in the 70-city index.
- The challenge for policymakers now will be cushioning the slowdown and avoiding an all-out property crash, which would be devastating for an economy growing at its slowest pace since the early 1990s.
- A prolonged housing downturn may push more buyers to the sidelines, spurring developers to offer deeper discounts to keep cash flowing in. The three-biggest home builders have almost $80 billion in short-term debt falling due by June 2020.
- Developers have offered discounts of 5%-10% at some projects to speed up sales, said Raymond Cheng, property analyst at CGS-CIMB Securities Ltd.
- For more detail from Monday’s data, click here
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To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katrina Nicholas at knicholas2@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe
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