Housing Prices Rise In Cities
Home prices in 100 large China cities increased during the first eight months, driven by a rise in lower-tier cities, according to a report by the E-house China R&D Institute.
Average new home prices across these cities rose by 15,726 yuan ($2,309.25), a 10.7% year-on-year increase, during the January-August period, rebounding from a decline of five consecutive months.
Of the cities surveyed, new home prices in four first-tier cities rose 6.3% while that in 32 second-tier cities saw a surge of 9.6%. Third- and fourth-tier cities saw the largest price increase, rising 10% year on year, it said. Five of these cities saw their housing price rise more than 20%, according to the report.
Tighter regulation in leading cities has brought a cooling in prices, and the regulations mainly target second-tier cities, said Yan Yuejin, research director at E-house China R&D Institute. Though there is a push for local governments to enforce "housing is for living in, not for speculation," lower-tier cities have been slower to implement measures for real estate supervision.
Spending Peaks Over National Holiday
Consumer purchasing in shopping and tourism destination Shanghai saw strong growth during China's eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.
China's most populous city boasts 437 large-scale commercial enterprises. Combined, they saw sales of 12.38 billion yuan ($1.82 billion) from Oct. 1 to 8, up 13.7% year on year, according to data provider Shanghai Consumer Market Big Data Laboratory.
The city's bricks-and-mortar consumption during the holiday reached 65.98 billion yuan, an increase of 12.2% from a year earlier, while online retailers saw a 15.7% increase to 35.86 billion yuan.
Pandemic recovery was reflected in Shanghai's food and beverage consumption topping 5.1 billion yuan during the holiday, an increase of 1.8% year-on-year. Meanwhile, from Oct. 1 to 7, cinemas raked in 205.13 million yuan on Chinese blockbusters which dominated screens, according to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.
Tourism accounted for much of the boost in holiday spending. Data from China UnionPay Merchant Services Co., indicates 8.99 million visitors from other regions spent around 8.84 billion yuan from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7. Tourists contributed 34.2% of the city's total consumption during the period.
Xinjiang Sees Rise In Cross-Border Commerce
Urumqi customs in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region cleared nearly 25.2 million cross-border e-commerce lists worth $106 million from January to August - up 370% and 390%, respectively, year on year, local news media reported.
The landlocked Xinjiang region has become an essential rail link in the Belt and Road Initiative, China's new Silk Road and offering a one-stop service integrating customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, train transportation and freight logistics, cutting transportation costs and time.
China-Europe trains carry parcels to Europe customers within two weeks, reducing shipping time by 80% compared to ocean freight and costing 20% of air freight.
Khorgas is an important inland port town on the Kazakhstan border. A logistics company manager surnamed Ma told Global Times that the Xinjiang's capital Urumqi acts as a major hub for goods from across China before shipping to Xinjiang's port towns.
The Urumqi International Land Port Area is at the center of Xinjiang's transportation, trade, and logistics and it has boosted e-commerce trade in the region, attracting more than 2,000 enterprises.
Cheng Ge, vice general manager of the Xinjiang branch of Best Logistics Technology Co., Ltd., said the company is laying out cross-border e-commerce logistics services nationwide, and it transports goods from around China to Xinjiang for sorting, classification, data declaration and customs clearance, the Xinhua News Agency said.
