The property market continues its path of recovery this year, with data from the China Index Academy revealing that second-hand home transactions in 20 key cities nationwide reached 998,000 units in the first eight months, marking a 6.3% year-on-year increase. Looking at August's performance in isolation, the secondary housing market showed notable vitality, with transaction volumes in major cities maintaining positive growth compared to the same period last year. On the pricing front, the market displayed a distinctive pattern where new home prices remained relatively stable while the secondary market continued its adjustment phase.
According to statistics from the China Index Academy, second-hand home transaction volumes in 100 cities nationwide grew by 7.4% year-on-year in August, while new home sales area declined by 7% compared to the same period. Among these, major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen delivered particularly impressive secondary market performance. Data from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shows that Beijing recorded 13,853 second-hand home transactions in August, up 4% year-on-year. Online real estate data indicates that Shanghai saw 23,137 second-hand home transactions in August, representing an 18% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, statistics from the China Index Academy reveal that Shenzhen completed 4,398 second-hand home transactions during the month, a 5% year-on-year uptick.
Furthermore, new home markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen also maintained a degree of vitality in August, with sales areas expanding by 16% and 32% year-on-year respectively. An industry expert from Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute noted that although July and August traditionally represent a slow season for the property sector, transaction volumes in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have remained steady, indicating the market is stabilizing at a foundational level. This suggests that following a period of deep adjustment, current housing demand has become more authentic and needs-driven, with the contours of monthly demand bottoms becoming increasingly clear—that is, a stable scale of reasonable housing demand entering the market each month.
On the pricing side, China Index Academy data shows that in August 2026, the average price of new residential properties across 100 cities nationwide stood at 17,255 yuan per square meter, reflecting a 0.15% month-on-month increase and a 2.04% year-on-year rise. In contrast, the average price of second-hand residential properties was 12,527 yuan per square meter, down 0.45% month-on-month and 7.08% year-on-year. A senior executive from the China Index Academy's Index Research Department commented that several key cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Tianjin continued to see premium property launches in August, driving the structural uptick in the average new home prices across the 100 cities.
Throughout August, multiple government departments issued a series of real estate-related policies covering areas such as housing provident fund system reform and the improvement of fundamental institutional frameworks for commercial housing development, financing, and sales. These measures represent further efforts to establish a new model for real estate development. Local governments have also been active, easing purchase restrictions, smoothing the chain for home trade-in programs, and optimizing housing provident fund policies to provide support for market stabilization.
The recent wave of policy initiatives, including directions such as presale-to-completion sales systems and extended mortgage terms, generally represents positive developments that help regulate market order and provide backing for reasonable housing consumption. Looking ahead to the approaching "golden September and silver October" period, banks and sales centers across regions are likely to intensify policy promotional efforts, actively guiding housing consumption expectations. Combined with potential supplementary policies, these factors are expected to generate positive momentum for the market and support the healthy and stable development of the real estate sector.
Adjustments to commercial housing sales systems may bring about phased changes in new home supply rhythms, which to some extent could help improve the market's supply-demand relationship and accelerate inventory digestion. However, the actual impact of these policies will depend on local supporting measures and specific implementation rules, as well as being closely tied to the structure of local real estate markets—including the proportion of second-hand home transactions, the ratio of presale commercial housing, inventory levels, and developers' financial conditions. Consequently, the effects across different cities may vary. In the near term, as the prime autumn selling season approaches, developers are expected to maintain a certain scale of project launches. Nevertheless, the recovery of residents' home-purchasing willingness and capacity will still require time, and new home sales are likely to continue on a path of bottoming-out and gradual recovery. On the secondary market front, transaction volumes in key cities are expected to retain a degree of activity, with trade-in policies potentially further facilitating the replacement chain. Short-term property prices are anticipated to continue exhibiting modest fluctuation patterns.