Asia:
China’s home prices to rise 6.8 percent this year as small city sales boom
China’s home prices in 2017 are likely to rise more than previously estimated despite a flurry of government curbs to crack down on speculation, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, soothing fears the economy would slow sharply. Property prices will continue to creep steadily higher amid heavy government intervention helped partly by a shift in demand to the country’s smaller cities, according to the poll which surveyed 13 property analysts and economists from Aug. 21-28. Average nationwide home prices were expected to rise a median 6.8 percent this year compared with a median expectation of 2 percent growth in the last poll in February. Prices of new homes in China grew 12.4 percent in 2016, the fastest rate since 2011. A resilient property market will be good news for China’s policymakers, who want to keep the real estate market stable ahead of a once-in-five-years Communist Party congress.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-property-poll-china-idUSKCN1B90M5
U.S.:
Lean Inventory Drives Home-Price Gain in 20 U.S. Cities
Steady growth in home prices in 20 U.S. cities in June reflects a limited number of available houses for sale, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data released Tuesday. Nationwide, values posted their largest advance in three years.
HIGHLIGHTS OF HOME PRICES (JUNE)
- 20-city property values index increased 5.7% y/y (est. 5.6% gain) for a second month
- National home-price gauge rose 5.8% y/y, the most since June 2014
- Seasonally adjusted 20-city index advanced 0.1% m/m (matching est.)
Key Takeaways
A persistent inventory shortage for previously-owned homes is keeping prices elevated at a time housing demand is being sustained by a strong job market and still-low mortgage rates. In the past few years, growth in property values has consistently outpaced wage gains and is holding back potential new entrants to the housing market. Home prices in all 20 major cities increased from a year earlier and all but six posted month-over-month gains, the report showed. Other recent reports showed the median sales price climbed in July for new and previously owned homes, contributing to a sales decline in both segments of the residential real-estate market.
Europe:
Merkel, Macron eye deeper eurozone integration after German election
The leaders of Germany and France said on Tuesday they are ready to press ahead with deeper European integration, promising a tighter euro zone at the core of the European Union shaken by Britain’s vote to leave. French President Emmanuel Macron, elected in May on a pro-EU platform, said he wanted to strengthen Europe’s single currency union in light of Brexit and pledged to announce proposals after Germany’s election on Sept. 24. “This is a revamp that we need,” he told an annual assembly of French ambassadors in Paris, promising “concrete steps in around 10 areas” and adding that the EU could not afford to “get stuck in routine or technocratic quarrels”. “Brexit should not take up all our energy,” he added as British and European Commission officials hold a third round of talks this week on Britain’s departure from the EU. In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met Macron on Monday, endorsed the idea of a European Monetary Fund and said she could imagine creating a combined European finance and economy minister.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-election-merkel-idUSKCN1B90YI