One of China’s largest property magnates, Wang Jianlin, warned this week that his country’s property market was the “biggest bubble in history”. But home buyers in key Chinese cities in September showed scant regard for such warnings, maintaining a frenetic pace of purchases.
Preliminary data for the month show that residential floor space sold in 52 cities rose 26 per cent in the first 25 days of September (see the first chart), in line with August’s 27 per cent increase and higher than July’s 13 per cent expansion, according to data collected from local land bureaus by NSBO, a China-focused investment bank.
The FT Confidential Research China Real Estate index — a leading indicator based on surveys of property sales offices in 40 cities — rose to its second highest reading this year after a record spike in March and showed that sales, inquiries and prices all rose sharply in September.