In August this year, of 70 major Chinese cities surveyed, new house prices in first-tier cities edged down by 0.3 percent month on month, 0.2 percentage points slower than the declining pace compared to the month-on-month decline seen in July this year, while decreasing by 4.2 percent year on year, keeping the same decreasing pace compared to the decrease in July, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The performance of China’s real estate industry did not indicate a significant improvement in August, which will still negatively affect the demand for steel in the future.
In China’s second-tier cities, prices of second-hand houses in August saw a year-on-year decline of 8.6 percent, with the pace of the decline 0.4 percentage points higher compared to that recorded in July. In third-tier cities, second-hand house prices in August saw a year-on-year decrease of 8.5 percent, with the pace of the decrease 0.4 percentage points higher compared to that recorded in July.