China's resale home prices fall again in August amid market woes

BEIJING, Sept 1 (Reuters) - China's resale home prices fell again in August even as new-home prices edged up, underscoring persistent weakness in the crisis-hit property market despite a raft of support measures, a private survey showed on Monday.

Second-hand home prices dropped 0.76% in August from the previous month, after a 0.77% decline in July, and were down 7.34% year-on-year, according to China Index Academy, one of the country's largest property research firms.

New-home prices rose 0.2% month-on-month, quickening slightly from a 0.18% gain in July.

Listings of second-hand homes remain high, and "price-for-volume" deals continue to dominate, the firm said.

"With authorities targeting 'halting declines and restoring stability', a new round of supportive policies is expected to be rolled out more quickly," it said.

It added that growing market expectations for a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut in September could widen the room for domestic monetary easing.

China's property sector has been under acute strain since 2021, when a regulatory clampdown on developer leverage sparked liquidity crises at major firms, leaving projects unfinished, depressing sales and triggering a wave of debt defaults.

China has cut interest rates and rolled out incentives for home buyers, but tepid consumer confidence and oversupply in some cities have blunted the impact.

The official construction PMI released on Sunday fell to 49.1 in August, its lowest level on record outside the pandemic, pointing to fading support from fiscal stimulus and continued weakness in property construction.

In August, Beijing and Shanghai eased home-purchase curbs in some suburban districts.