China's housing transactions up in October

New and resale home transactions in China registered both year-on-year and month-on-month growth in October, thanks to a series of measures to prop up the market, according to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on Friday.

Transactions of new homes in October went up 0.9 percent year on year, reversing a decline since June last year.

Resold home transactions rose for the seventh consecutive month by 8.9 percent year on year in October, according to the ministry.

On a monthly basis, transaction volumes of new homes increased 6.7 percent and that of resold homes moved up 4.5 percent in October.

Dubbed "Golden September and Silver October" by the housing market, the two months are considered a peak sales season in the second half of the year. Typically, September is the stronger of the two months as property developers strive to hit third-quarter targets.

The ministry said that it was the first time since 2007 that October transactions exceeded those in September.

"September is the last month of the third quarter, when real estate developers would work harder for better sales. And October, as the first month of the fourth quarter, usually sees a slowdown in the wake of high sales in September. Yet the 'Silver October' outperformed the 'Golden September' this year, which is very unusual. It's the first time we see this phenomenon since 2007," said Pu Zhan, deputy director of the policy research center under the ministry.

In October, the central government introduced a slew of incremental measures to stabilize the property sector, including enhanced support for dilapidated housing renovation projects.

"The October figures show that, under the combined impact of existing policies and new incremental policies, the real estate market nationwide is showing a positive momentum of reversing the downward trend and becoming stable again. We believe that as these policies continue to take effect, the real estate market is hopeful to sustain its upward trend," Pu said.

China launched 18 new international air cargo routes in October, primarily to Asian and European countries.

According to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, these new routes include eight to Europe, seven to other Asian countries, and three to North America, which involve 14 airline companies, and seven of them are domestic. Most of the cargoes will be cross-border e-commerce goods, perishables, and electronics.

With these new routes, there will be at least 30 more round-trip cargo flights every week.

As of Thursday, China had launched 145 new international air cargo routes this year with over 400 weekly round-trip flights, advancing global connectivity and creating a more robust international logistics network.