From Bloomberg:
China’s urban home prices rose for the first time in seven months, adding to evidence that record bank lending is driving a recovery in the world’s third-largest economy.
Prices in 70 major Chinese cities gained 0.2 percent in June from a year earlier, the National Development and Reform Commission said today on its Web site. Home values increased 0.8 percent from May, the fourth straight monthly gain. The China Se Shang Property Index of 24 real-estate companies rose 1.6 percent, beating the 0.3 percent drop in the benchmark.
“China’s property market is reviving and real estate investment may rebound by 20 percent in the second half of this year, backing economic recovery,” Lu Ting, an economist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, said in Hong Kong.