(Bloomberg) -- China home sales growth slowed in the first two months of this year, amid an almost two-year government campaign to cool the property market.
Sales by value, excluding state-subsidized affordable housing, rose 16 percent from a year earlier to 1.06 trillion yuan ($168 billion) in the January-February period, according to Bloomberg calculations based on official data released Wednesday. That’s down from a 21 percent pace in December. The January and February data was combined to smooth the effects of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The slower growth comes as authorities sent a stronger signal at the National People’s Congress on efforts to curb property speculation and tame runaway prices. Last week, an NPC spokesman said a property tax bill is being drafted, and the head of the nation’s banking regulator again called for steps to reduce household debt.
In other signs of a slowdown, developers bought less land than a year ago, the first decline in eight months. New starts, a leading indicator of real estate investment, rose at the slowest pace in three months, gaining 2.9 percent, the data showed.
China’s deleveraging is making it harder for developers to access funds, said Guotai Junan International Co. property analyst Van Liu.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Emma Dong in Shanghai at edong10@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam at sbhaktavatsa@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe
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