New home purchases in China grew more slowly in the first 10 months of this year as tightening measures imposed by local governments effectively damped buying sentiment, data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

New homes worth 7.8 trillion yuan (US$1.1 trillion), excluding government-funded affordable housing, were sold across the country between January and October, up 42.6 percent year on year. The pace slowed from a 43.2 percent gain in the first nine months.

About 1.06 billion square meters of new homes were sold during the 10 months, up 27 percent. The rise slowed from the 27.1 percent annual gain in the first three quarters, the data showed.

“This round of property boom seemed to reach its peak in September with buying sentiment starting to fall in October,” Centaline Property, a major chain in Shanghai, wrote in a note. “A significant retreat in new home purchases should be expected over the next two months.”

In October, new houses worth 941.2 billion yuan were sold across the country, down from 1.15 trillion yuan sold in September. The area of new home purchases totaled 132 million square meters, down from 155 million square meters in September.

During the weeklong National Day holiday, more than 20 cities nationwide — mostly first-tier and selected second-tier ones — unveiled austerity measures ranging from home buying curbs to stricter mortgage requirements to cool their overheated property markets.

In the first 10 months, sales of new properties, including office and commercial buildings, have outnumbered the whole of 2015, Centaline Property’s research showed. New property sales nationwide hit 9.15 trillion yuan between January and October, up from 8.73 trillion yuan sold last year.

(Source: shanghaidaily.com  Author: Cao Qian)