越来越多的城市房价开始下降

Of the 70 major Chinese cities observed by the country's National Bureau of Statistics, new homes in eight cities have seen a month-on-month price decline in April, double that of March.

The average month-on-month price increase for new homes has come in at just 0.1-percent last month, one third of that recorded in March.

Zhejiang's capital Hangzhou has seen the biggest decline in new home prices, down by 0.7 percent in April.

Sun Chengping, regional general manager of a Shanghai based real estate company, attributes the downturn to the current macro market environment.

"The effect of existing property purchase restrictions, on top of the recent mortgage and loan policy adjustments, have all resulted in the slowdown of property sales."

In an attempt to try to bolster the property market, the People's Bank of China is calling on commercial banks to "properly allocate credit resources and prioritize credit demand for first-time home buyers."

Cui Zheng with Beijing Technology and Business University says supply and demand in the property market is still imbalanced.

"People with purchasing ability are still being restrained by the purchase restrictions, while others are still being priced out of the market. So, governments in second and third-tier cities need to adjust their policies to stimulate investment in the property sector. Demand in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is still strong, so it seems sales may be slowing down."

Guangxi's capital Nanning has become the first city to ease its home purchasing restrictions by allowing more non-residents to buy homes.

At the same time, Cui Zheng says adjusting the economic structure is more important than simply adjusting the rules surrounding property purchases.

"Actually, what the government needs to do is guide the market for both developers and buyers. Some are purchasing property as an investment tool. So their purchases are based on speculation, rather than actual needs. If economic growth models are better planned for long-term development, people's purchases will be more based on whether they really need a place to live, not just for investment. Property developers will also be able to eliminate high inventories."

The National Bureau of Statistics is warning the pressure to ease restrictions on the property market will grow on cities that already have large inventories of available homes.

For CRI, I'm Li Dong.