China Index Research Institute: The core city “Xiaoyangchun” market continued in April, and second-hand housing market expectations improved

Zhitongcaijing · 1d ago

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the China Index Research Institute released a report saying that in April 2026, the “Xiaoyangchun” market in core cities continued, and second-hand housing transactions in key cities such as Beijing and Shanghai continued to increase year-on-year, reflecting that demand continues to be released and market expectations have improved. The decline in second-hand housing prices in the top ten cities was narrower than last month, and Shanghai maintained an upward trend from month to month. Looking at the trend, second-hand housing transactions in core cities are expected to remain active, and prices are expected to continue to fluctuate slightly. The current demand release is still mainly price-driven. The basis for market repair is not yet strong. The continued improvement of the market still depends on improvements in residents' expectations, and differentiation will continue to be the main characteristic of the market throughout the year.

At the policy level, on April 28, the Politburo meeting of the Central Committee stated that “efforts should be made to stabilize the real estate market and solidly push forward urban renewal.” On April 16, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Construction issued the “Notice on Launching the 2026 Central Financial Support Urban Renewal Action”, which plans to grant subsidies to no more than 15 cities implementing urban renewal actions. The total amount of subsidies for each city in the East, Central, and Western regions shall not exceed 800 million yuan, 1 billion yuan, and 1.2 billion yuan, respectively. On April 22, 15 departments including the Communist Youth League and the National Development and Reform Commission issued a document introducing a number of measures to guarantee housing for young people. On April 24, a spokesperson for the Legal Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress introduced this year's key legislative work and stated that the Urban Real Estate Management Law will be revised; on the same day, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Notice on Expanding the Scope of the “Self-Audit and Spontaneous” Pilot for Local Government Special Bond Projects, clarifying that Hebei Province, Jiangxi Province, Hubei Province, and Chongqing will be included in the scope of the “self-examination and spontaneous” pilot for local government special bond projects, expanding the scope to 14 provinces and cities.

At the local level, Shenzhen has optimized policies to increase purchase restrictions on Futian, Nanshan and Baoan Xin'an streets, while increasing personal and household loan amounts. Households can borrow up to 3.51 million yuan. Updated relevant documents in cities such as Changsha, Chengdu, and Wuhan. Zhuhai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and other places have implemented relevant policies to revitalize stocks. Among them, Guangzhou explores industrial and commercial land renewal policies and formulates supporting rules. Many places such as Wuhan, Nanjing, Jinan, and Qingdao have optimized their provident fund loan policies. Among them, Nanjing has expanded the scope of offsite loans to all of Anhui Province, and Jinan and Qingdao have expanded the use of provident fund withdrawals to pay property fees, pay deeds, and use in urban renewal. Also, in April, Fujian issued about 12.9 billion yuan of special bonds to collect and buy unused land stocks.

Second-hand housing prices in the top ten cities fell slightly in April, and Shanghai rose month-on-month

Figure: Average price of second-hand housing listings in the top ten cities in April 2026 and the month-on-month ratio

Figure: Average prices and month-on-month changes of second-hand housing in the top ten cities from January 2021 to April 2026