China real estate market 'rebounding'

Fueled by a market recovery, the home sales of China's leading listed property developers increased in September, the official China Daily reported Monday, citing industry data.

By Oct 14, a total of 20 large-scale listed real estate firms had released their third-quarter financial reports, according to the Securities Times.

Their sales reached 65.8 billion yuan ($10.43 billion) in September, up 10 percent compared with last month, while sales in the first three quarters hit 488.9 billion yuan, up 8.1 percent year-on-year.

"Since March, most of property developers began destocking. And some of them even raised their annual sales targets because of the strong rebound in the market. I will not be surprised at all if the sales of the leading listed property developers reach a record high this year," said Zhang Dawei, head of market research at Centaline Group, parent company of a large Chinese real estate brokerage.

Average housing prices in 100 major Chinese cities rose for the fourth straight month in September though the pace of increases slowed, suggesting that property prices have bottomed out, according to the latest data released by the China Index Academy.

The world's second-largest economy has implemented several measures aimed at curbing skyrocketing property prices since 2010. These have included restrictions on second-home purchases, higher down payment requirements and the introduction of property taxes in certain areas.

As the property sector is a key contributor to Chinese economic growth, some local governments have taken efforts to revive housing sales, though many have backed off following pressure from Beijing.