New home prices in China rose 8.4% year-on-year September, slowing from the 8.8% rise recorded in August, while its month rise was stable at 0.5%. Across the 70 cities tracked, 53 recorded price increases compared to 55 in the month prior.

Our thoughts: The slower price gains were led in part due to developers cutting prices ahead of the Golden Week holiday, a seasonal peak sales period. Furthermore, the PBOC has so far opted to maintain its lending rates, despite the slowing economy, to prevent overstimulating the country’s already high debt levels. Going forward, the slowing growth trend is expected to broaden as developers ramp up their sales promotion to meet their full year sales targets.