After years of a prolonged downturn, China’s housing market is showing some faint signs of hope, although analysts remain divided over whether the market has truly reached a bottom.

According to The New York Times on May 21, average prices for existing homes in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou rose by about 2 percent from February through April, following a 38 percent decline since 2021. Shanghai and Shenzhen have shown some of the clearest signs of improvement. Shanghai has made it easier for buyers to access lower-cost mortgages through a municipal housing fund, effectively providing the equivalent of an interest-rate cut.

However, the national housing market continues to face significant pressure. China still has an estimated 90 million empty or unfinished apartments, while the four Tier 1 cities account for only about 6 percent of the country’s population. Prices have fallen even more steeply elsewhere, and continued migration toward larger cities has further widened the gap between major urban centers and smaller cities.

The housing downturn has also weighed on household wealth and consumption. The article notes that Chinese households hold around three-quarters of their savings in property, while about one-quarter of urban households own two or more homes. Sam Radwan noted that around one-quarter of Chinese urban households own two or more homes, compared with about 4 percent in the United States. Many owners of investment properties have struggled to find renters amid the glut of vacant units.

For Enhance International, China’s housing market is not only a question of property prices, but also an important lens through which to understand household wealth and consumer behavior. While the recent improvement in Shanghai and Shenzhen provides some faint signs of hope, the large number of empty or unfinished apartments and population outflows from smaller cities indicate that the nationwide housing adjustment is still continuing.

To read the original article, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/business/china-housing-slump.html