Official figures released on August 17, 2026, show that China’s real estate market experienced divergent trends in July, with frontline cities seeing a general month-on-month increase in commercial residential sales prices even as year-on-year declines continued to narrow across all tiers nationwide.
Frontline Cities Edge Up Month-on-Month While Second and Third Tiers Ease
Data published by the National Bureau of Statistics detailed the housing price movements across 70 major large and medium-sized cities for July. Among those cities, frontline property markets presented a mixed picture where new home prices flattened on a monthly basis, shifting from a 0.1% increase in the prior month, while existing home prices climbed.
Specifically, line-item statistics reported that frontline secondhand residential sales prices rose by 0.2% in July, though the pace of that growth cooled slightly by 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, second- and third-tier cities faced monthly declines, with new home prices in second-tier areas dipping by 0.1% and third-tier cities recording a 0.3% drop. In the 70 large and medium-sized cities, 23 cities saw new commercial residential sales prices increase or hold steady month-on-month, representing an increase of two cities compared to the previous month. Conversely, only 8 cities registered month-on-month increases or flat prices for secondhand residential properties, marking a decrease of two cities from the month before.
Among frontline cities, monthly new home prices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and深圳 (Shenzhen) rose by 0.2%, 0.1%, and 0.2% respectively, while Beijing saw a 0.3% decrease. For secondhand homes in the top-tier group, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen posted monthly increases of 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.2% respectively, while Beijing remained flat. In second- and third-tier regions, secondhand residential sales prices fell month-on-month by 0.3% and 0.4%, with the respective rates of decline remaining identical to the previous month.
Year-on-Year Declines Continue Contracting Across Urban Tiers
Despite persistent downward pressure in certain segments, the annual trajectory demonstrated a broad narrowing of year-on-year price drops across primary and secondary markets alike. Frontline new residential prices fell by 1.1% compared to the previous year, with the contraction narrowing by 0.2 percentage points.
Individual cities within the top tier showed stark divergence. In the primary market, Shanghai registered a 3.0% annual increase, whereas Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen posted annual decreases of 2.3%, 2.2%, and 2.9% respectively. Second-tier new home prices dropped 2.8% annually with the drop narrowing by 0.3 percentage points, while third-tier cities dropped 4.2%, matching the prior month’s decline rate.
Annual figures for secondhand residential properties showed even more pronounced shrinkage in year-on-year drops across all tiers. In frontline cities, secondhand housing prices fell by 3.7% year-on-year, with the rate of decline narrowing significantly by 1.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. Breaking down the frontline secondhand annual data, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen fell by 4.5%, 2.0%, 4.7%, and 3.6% respectively. Second- and third-tier secondhand residential prices fell year-on-year by 5.1% and 5.8%, with their declines narrowing by 0.3 and 0.2 percentage points respectively.
Broad Real Estate Indicators Through July
Beyond pricing data, the broader financial indicators for the property sector showed substantial contraction in development activity over the first seven months of the year. National real estate development investment totaled 430,090,000,000 yuan, marking a 19.2% decline on a comparable basis, with residential investment falling 19.1% to 331,720,000,000 yuan.
Commercial Sales and Developer Funding Pressures
Commercial property sales volume mirrored the slower development pace. Total sales revenue for commercial property fell 13.1% to 427,180,000,000 yuan, with residential sales revenue experiencing a parallel 13.2% drop.
Total funds in place for real estate development enterprises declined 20.3% to 457,480,000,000 yuan during the same seven-month period. A breakdown of enterprise funding sources showed a 32.1% drop in domestic loans down to 63,000,000,000 yuan, an 18.5% decrease in self-raised funds to 165,440,000,000 yuan, a 14.4% reduction in deposits and advance payments totaling 143,760,000,000 yuan, and a 23.5% contraction in personal mortgage loans down to 60,400,000,000 yuan.
