(Yicai) July 15 -- China's real estate market saw improving supply and demand dynamics in the first half of the year, helping lift market expectations, according to a senior statistics official.

The improvement was reflected in firmer home prices in major cities, declining housing inventory, and stronger activity in the secondary home market, Mao Shengyong, deputy head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a press conference today. Authorities will continue implementing existing property policies to support the market's stable and healthy development, he added.

An NBS survey covering 70 large and medium-sized cities found that more than 63 percent of industry professionals expected prices of newly built commercial homes to remain stable or increase over the next six months in June. The proportion has stayed above 60 percent for four consecutive months, rebounding 20 percentage points from last year's low.

Since March, sales prices of both newly built commercial homes and second-hand homes in first-tier cities have risen month on month for four straight months, according to NBS data. Monthly price growth for new homes ranged from 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent between March and June, while second-hand home prices increased between 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent.

Price declines continued to narrow in second- and third-tier cities. In June, prices of newly built commercial homes in second-tier cities were flat from a month earlier after previous declines, while the monthly decline in third-tier cities narrowed by 0.1 percentage point. On a yearly basis, declines in new home prices in second-tier cities and second-hand home prices in both second- and third-tier cities all narrowed from the previous month.

Housing inventory continued to fall. By the end of June, the nationwide floor area of commercial housing available for sale had declined 0.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decrease. The floor area of homes that had been on the market for less than three years fell 3.5 percent.

Mao said the transaction area of second-hand homes is now roughly on par with that of new homes. In the first half, the floor area of second-hand homes registered through the online filing system rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier, with growth accelerating 2.5 percentage points from the first five months. The combined online registrations of new and second-hand home transactions have posted positive year-on-year growth for the past three months.

In recent years, local governments have tailored property policies to local conditions by controlling new housing supply, reducing inventory, and optimizing housing supply, Mao said. They have also eased home purchase restrictions, deepened reforms of the housing provident fund system, increased the supply of affordable housing, and advanced urban renewal projects. These policy directions will continue in the next stage to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market, he added.

Editor: Emmi Laine