China 2013 new home sales hit record high

[SHANGHAI] China's new home sales last year exceeded US$1 trillion for the first time as property prices in cities the government considers first tier surged in the absence of more nationwide property curbs.

The value of new homes sold last year rose 27 per cent from 2012 to 6.8 trillion yuan (S$1.43 trillion), National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. New-home prices last month climbed 20 per cent in Guangzhou and Shenzhen from a year earlier, and jumped 18 per cent in Shanghai and 16 per cent in Beijing, the bureau of statistics said on Saturday.

"Clearly, the real estate market in China remains hot," Dariusz Kowalczyk, a senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole, said yesterday. "Urbanisation and investment …