BEIJING, April 16 (Reuters) - China's new home prices extended their decline in March, official data showed on Thursday, although major cities showed some month-on-month improvement.
Weak demand continued
to weigh on the property market.
According to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, new home prices fell 0.2% in March from the previous month, compared with a 0.3% decline in February.
On an annual basis, prices dropped 3.4%, deeper than February's 3.2% fall and the sharpest decline in ten months.
The persistent weakness in new home prices suggests the troubles facing China's distressed property developers are far from over, even as top leaders repeatedly pledge to arrest a multi-year slide in the sector and stabilise it.
Government-backed China Vanke posted a net loss of about 88.6 billion yuan for 2025 and is seeking to extend an onshore bond maturing this month after extending three other bonds earlier this year.
Still, attention is turning to month-on-month gains in both new home and resold home prices in tier-one cities.
The improvement could offer some relief to China's distressed property developers. They have been in the red since the real estate industry fell into a slump around mid-2021 as sales dove and borrowing became more difficult.
Chinese policymakers have rolled out several rounds of support measures in an effort to revive the property sector, which was once a key driver of economic growth. They have also called for city-specific policies to curb new housing supply, reduce inventory and improve the balance of market supply and demand.
In the past few months, localities across China - from megacity Shanghai to third-tier cities like Wuxi and Yichang - offered incentives for people to purchase homes. Shanghai further relaxed buying curbs, while Wuxi and Yichang promised subsidies for certain buyers.
(Reporting by Yukun Zhang, Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Thomas Derpinghaus)
