China's housing demand was curbed by the COVID-19 lockdown in the first quarter but it started to show signs of recovery in April. Now with the economic recovery well underway, the housing market showed additional strength in May.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on June 15 showed that 57 out of 70 major cities saw month-on-month home price growth in May, compared to 50 cities in April.

Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the biggest four cities, saw new home prices rise by 0.7 percent month on month in May. That's 0.5 percentage points higher than in April.

The country's second-tier cities saw a month-on-month increase of 0.6 percent in new home prices, up by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, while third-tier cities witnessed a month-on-month rise of 0.7 percent in new home prices, compared to a 0.6-percent increase reported in April.

Also in May, prices of pre-owned housing in first-tier cities went up by 1.1 percent month on month. The growth rate was unchanged from one month earlier. In second- and third-tier cities, prices of pre-owned homes increased by 0.4 and 0.3 percent respectively from the previous month. 

"Home price growth in May was more obvious than in April. That's as more buyers come back to the market and developers put more new homes on the market," said Huang Yu, CEO of China Index Holdings, a housing market analytical organization.

China's central bank lowered its five-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points in April. That, together with the relaxation of household registration systems in some lower tier cities, helped unleash some pent-up demand. But there was a divergence in the property recovery between different regions across the country.  
"First tier cities saw more growth in housing prices than lower tier cities in this round of market recovery starting from April. And cities with strong economies, such as those in the Yangtze Delta Region, and Pearl River Delta Region, saw more home price growth than less developed middle and western regions," Huang told CGTN, adding that "even in the same city, home price performance could be different, such as those in good school zones enjoy better growth."

Also in May, some developers suffered financial difficulties as some of their projects' construction had been suspended - that has caused some concerns for home buyers. Huang warned of risks in buying new homes. 

"We advise buyers to choose big name developers with good reputation and try to avoid choosing cheap projects or projects with very high land costs," Huang stressed.

Huang also said the market will continue to recover in June. But prices will not rise quickly as the government will stick to its principle that "houses are for living in, not speculation."