THE value of China’s new home sales rose 61 percent in September from a year earlier, defying policymakers’ moves earlier this year to cool the property market.

    The value of homes sold rose to 1.2 trillion yuan (US$178 billion) last month from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data the National Bureau of Statistics released yesterday. The increase compares with a 33 percent gain the previous month.

    Residential transactions surged in an extended real-estate bull market, prompting local authorities in late September to roll out tougher curbs in big cities.

    At least 21 cities have introduced purchase restrictions and toughened mortgage lending since late September, reversing two years of easing to support buyers.

    September’s investment in Chinese real estate showed its strongest growth since May. Property investment rose 7.8 percent in September from a year earlier, compared with 6.2 percent in August, according to Reuters calculations based on data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

    But real estate developers may have become more cautious of taking on new developments, fearing a fall in sales momentum if the government imposes more tightening measures to prevent a property bubble, analysts say.

    New construction starts fell 19.4 percent in September month, suggesting sentiment among builders may have already started to cool.

    “Today’s data showed developers are relatively cautious on new projects, because land has become rather expensive now, and such a strong sales momentum might not be sustainable moving forward,” said Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS.

    Wang said that the sharp decline in new construction starts in September was also due to high base number from the previous year, noting that the number is highly volatile.

    “The developers might have quickened the pace for investment, to finish the existing projects since sales performance was so great,” Wang said.

    For the first nine months of the year, property investment grew 5.8 percent, accelerating from 5.4 percent in the first eight months.(SD-Agencies)