By Liangping Gao and Liz Lee
BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) – China’s new home prices extended declines in November, official data showed on Monday, indicating that a recovery in demand remains elusive despite the government vowing to stabilise the sector.
Prices fell 0.4% month-on-month, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data, compared with a 0.5% decline in October.
On an annual basis, home prices fell 2.4% in November, steeper than the 2.2% drop the previous month.
China’s property market has been mired in a downturn since mid-2021, fuelled by declining sales, a liquidity crunch for developers, and falling home prices, which have eroded household wealth and dampened consumption.
China’s top leaders have repeatedly pledged to stabilise the housing sector, as that would boost overall household consumption, which in turn helps the $19 trillion economy reduce its reliance on exports and government-led investment.
The secondary home market remains sluggish, with housing prices falling across the board. In year-on-year terms, the declines have widened in first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities, dropping 5.8%, 5.6%, and 5.8%, respectively.
Property investment and home sales slumped at a faster pace in the first 11 months of the year, separate official data showed.
Economists in the latest Reuters quarterly poll expected China’s home prices to extend declines into 2026 and remain flat in 2027, with some economists citing structural challenges and a supply glut.
The International Monetary Fund earlier this month called for more efforts from the Chinese government to resolve the property crisis, including speeding up the exit of unviable property developers from the market.
The IMF estimated that China would need to spend 5% of its GDP to end the crisis in three years.
In the second half of 2025, the central government refrained from announcing large-scale property market stimulus but reiterated its commitment to stabilising the market and curbing systemic risks.
In a key policy meeting earlier this month, officials pledged to implement city-specific strategies to optimise supply, reduce inventory, and enhance affordable housing programs.
(Reporting by Yukun Zhang, Liangping Gao and Liz Lee; Editing by Jamie Freed and Sam Holmes)
