China’s Property Market Warms Up on Easier Financing and Optimised Policies

China’s major urban property market has gained steady momentum since March, driven by nationwide stabilisation policies and improved financing conditions for real estate enterprises. First-tier cities take the lead in market recovery, with transaction activity and consumer confidence continuing to pick up across the country.

Local authorities have rolled out targeted measures to facilitate healthy market development after central policy guidance to stabilise the real estate sector. The Guangzhou municipal government unveiled supporting policies on May 26 to boost residential upgrading transactions, offering special subsidies and adopting market-oriented second-hand housing purchasing programmes to smooth the swap cycle of new and old properties.

According to data from China Index Academy, the industry’s bond financing environment has seen notable optimisation. In April 2026, China’s real estate bond financing volume reached 61.48 billion yuan, rising 28.8% year on year and 18.5% month on month. The average financing interest rate edged down from a year earlier. From January to April, the cumulative bond financing scale hit 187.92 billion yuan, marking a 7.9% year-on-year increase.

Financing structure shows diversified development characteristics. In April, credit bond financing stood at 37.48 billion yuan, remaining the dominant financing channel. Asset-backed securities financing surged 83.9% year on year with high-quality underlying assets support. Overseas bond financing also maintained steady growth, broadening capital sources for high-quality developers. Green light on financing channels has effectively relieved operational pressure on real estate enterprises.

High-quality developers continue to expand direct financing channels. Greentown Real Estate announced a public corporate bond issuance plan on May 26, with a total issuance scale of no more than 2 billion yuan. The raised funds will be fully used for principal repayment of mature corporate bonds, further standardising enterprise capital operation and strengthening financial stability.

Improved funding liquidity has boosted end-market transactions, with rigid demand becoming the core driving force of market recovery. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows first-tier cities saw a 0.1% month-on-month rise in new commercial housing prices in April. The number of cities with rising or flat new home prices among 70 major cities increased month on month. Second-hand residential prices in first-tier cities climbed 0.4% month on month.

Guangzhou’s property market has registered robust growth since May, with notable increases in visitor volume, subscription volume and online signing volume of key residential projects. Local housing provident fund policies have effectively reduced buyers’ cost, with both loan approval volume and total amount achieving substantial year-on-year growth.

Shanghai’s real estate market presents a coordinated recovery of new and second-hand housing transactions. Second-hand housing transactions hit a decade-high level in April, with single-day transaction volume repeatedly refreshing recent records. Transactions of properties priced below 3 million yuan keep a dominant share, reflecting strong rigid demand vitality. The city’s second-hand housing acquisition programme for indemnificatory rental housing has been steadily promoted and expanded, further activating stock housing resources.

The continuous optimisation of policies and financing environment will further unlock residential housing demand. The coordinated development of incremental and stock markets will sustain the steady recovery trend of China’s real estate industry.