中国房价再跌，楼市阴云难消

    中国房地产泡沫在7月继续萎缩，新房价格连续第三个月下跌。

    国家统计局表示，中国70个大中型城市的房价在7月平均下跌0.9%，较之5月的0.2%和6月的0.5%跌幅更加严重。据国家统计局称，在全部被调查城市中有64个出现了房价下跌现象。

    而就在该数据发布前几天，央行宣布，中国各大银行在7月份的放贷量出现了显著下降。央行将其归因于银行正试图减少房地产贷款，提高了风险控制标准。

    随着中国的数亿劳动力从农村移居城市，房地产多年来一直是暴利行业，在全国范围内掀起了大规模的建房热潮。但今年，有越来越多的迹象表明，新房供应量已经超过了需求量，导致银行借给开发商的大量资金已成为不良贷款。

    有关部门试图通过依靠一些国内最大的银行增加资本缓冲，以应对可能的损失。据《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）本周一报道称，中国政府同意在房地产泡沫最为严重的五个地区成立“坏账银行”，以清理银行账目上的不良贷款。

    与去年同期相比，今年中国的房价总体仍上涨了2.5%，但自年初以来房价的同比增长速度已经下降了近10%。

    中国政府将今年的经济增长目标定在了7.5%左右，但第一季度政府将工作重点放在调整经济重心从出口导向转向国内消费上，经济增速放缓。随后，政府和央行推行了一系列刺激措施，似乎扭转了态势，制造业产出在6月有所回升。

    然而，中国经济的疲软依然在许多领域有所体现。路透社（Reuters）在本周一报道称，中国7月的外商直接投资（FDI）创造了两年来的新低。除去经济衰退之外，投资者情绪也由于中国与邻国的一系列领土争端受到影响。同时，中国的反垄断部门也正在增强执法力度，打击外国公司存在的价格欺诈现象。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    China’s housing bubble continued to deflate in July, with a third straight monthly decline in the price of new homes.

    The National Bureau of Statistics said average prices across 70 large and medium-sized cities fell by 0.9% in the month, an acceleration from drops of 0.2% in May and 0.5% in June. It said prices fell in 64 of the cities surveyed.

    The figures come only a few days after the central bank announced a sharp drop in the amount of new loans being given by Chinese banks in July, a development that it put down to banks trying to reduce exposure to real estate and tighten their risk management standards.

    Years of easy money have fueled a massive construction boom across the country, as hundreds of millions of workers have migrated to the cities from the countryside. But there have been increasing signs this year that the supply of new housing has outstripped demand, leaving banks sitting on a lot of loans to developers that have turned sour.

    The authorities have tried to address the problem by leaning on the country’s largest banks to increase their buffers against potential losses. They have also approved the creation of ‘bad banks’ in five regions where the housing bubble was most inflated, with a view to transferring bad loans out of the banking system, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

    In year-on-year terms, prices were still up by 2.5%, but the rate of increase has slowed from nearly 10% at the start of the year.

    China’s government is targeting growth of around 7.5% this year, but the rate slowed substantially in the first quarter as the economy struggled with the government’s top priority of rebalancing it away from exports to domestic consumption. The government and central bank then enacted a range of stimulus measures that appeared to revive activity, and factory output was on the rise again by June.

    However, evidence of weakness still continues to come in from a number of areas, and Reuters reported Monday that foreign direct investment hit a two-year low in July. In addition to the economic slowdown, investor sentiment has also suffered from a number of territorial disputes with its neighbors, which are all big investors into China. Also, the country’s antitrust authorities are increasingly flexing their muscles in an effort to stop what they see as price gouging by foreign companies.