(Yicai Global) March 15 -- China's property market is expected to stabilize gradually as the economy improves and market expectations turn positive, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

There have been favorable changes in China’s real estate market, especially a significant narrowing in sales' rate of decline, Fu Linghui said.

The sales area of commercial properties fell 3.6 percent in January and February from the same period last year to 151.3 million square meters, and, of this, the sales area of residential properties dipped 0.6 percent, the NBS said.

This is a huge improvement on last year’s data when the sales area of commercial properties plunged 26.7 percent year on year while that of residential homes tumbled 24.3 percent.

And commercial property transactions in the first two months dipped 0.1 percent from a year ago to CNY154.49 billion (USD22.4 billion), while residential property sales gained 3.5 percent.

Regulators have been rolling out several initiatives since last year to lower the threshold and help people buy homes and these measures are only now starting to take effect, industry analysts said. Also, pent-up demand for property is slowly being released. Core cities are taking the lead in recovery.

The real estate development prosperity index in February was 94.67, gaining for the second month running, according to NBS data. Last year the index tumbled all year, reaching a low of 94.36 in December.

And the decline in investment in real estate development has slowed. Investment in real estate development slumped 5.7 percent in January and February from the same period last year to CNY136.69 billion (USD19.8 billion), while last year the figure fell by 10 percent.

The government's emphasis on the on-time delivery of housing projects is showing results. The completed floor area jumped 8 percent in January and February from a year earlier, while that of completed residential homes surged 9.7 percent, NBS data shows.

By comparison, the completed floor area plunged 15 percent in 2022 from the year before, and that of completed residential homes sank 14.2 percent.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor