Households say prices still too high
By Zhang Fengming |
June 17, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
People's satisfaction with prices in China is at its second lowest in more than a decade, according to the latest central bank survey released yesterday.
The People's Bank of China surveyed 20,000 household in 50 cities across the country recently and found that just 16.8 percent of respondents were satisfied with prices, the second lowest figure since the bank began conducting the quarterly survey in the fourth quarter of 1999.
Satisfaction was at its lowest level in late 2010 with just 13.8 percent of respondents feeling positive about prices.
In the latest survey, covering the second quarter of the year, 68.2 percent of respondents said prices were too high, up 1.3 percentage points on the first quarter.
House prices were a particular concern, with 74.3 percent of those taking part in the survey saying they were unaffordable, a figure approaching the 75.5 percent recorded in 2010's fourth-quarter survey.
This quarter, more than half of respondents said they expected home prices to stabilize or felt that it was still difficult for them to see a clear trend. About 26 percent said they expected house prices to rise, while another 19 percent said they thought they would drop.
The proportion of people expecting prices in general to be higher in the next three months fell to 45 percent, down 1.7 percentage points from the beginning of the year.
The willingness of urban households to spend saw a slight rebound in the second quarter and their desire to save rose, the central bank said.
China's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 5.5 percent year-on-year in May, the highest since July 2008. The central bank has tightened its monetary policy since October 2010, with strict credit controls, four benchmark interest rate increases and nine reserve requirement ratio hikes.
In a separate central bank survey, most bankers said they expect more monetary tightening in the third quarter after four interest-rate increases since October.
Two thirds of bankers questioned at about 3,000 institutions said they expect monetary policy to become tighter in the next quarter, little changed from the previous survey.
The number forecasting gains in interest rates in the next quarter had declined to 68.2 percent from the previous survey's 73.5 percent.
The People's Bank of China surveyed 20,000 household in 50 cities across the country recently and found that just 16.8 percent of respondents were satisfied with prices, the second lowest figure since the bank began conducting the quarterly survey in the fourth quarter of 1999.
Satisfaction was at its lowest level in late 2010 with just 13.8 percent of respondents feeling positive about prices.
In the latest survey, covering the second quarter of the year, 68.2 percent of respondents said prices were too high, up 1.3 percentage points on the first quarter.
House prices were a particular concern, with 74.3 percent of those taking part in the survey saying they were unaffordable, a figure approaching the 75.5 percent recorded in 2010's fourth-quarter survey.
This quarter, more than half of respondents said they expected home prices to stabilize or felt that it was still difficult for them to see a clear trend. About 26 percent said they expected house prices to rise, while another 19 percent said they thought they would drop.
The proportion of people expecting prices in general to be higher in the next three months fell to 45 percent, down 1.7 percentage points from the beginning of the year.
The willingness of urban households to spend saw a slight rebound in the second quarter and their desire to save rose, the central bank said.
China's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 5.5 percent year-on-year in May, the highest since July 2008. The central bank has tightened its monetary policy since October 2010, with strict credit controls, four benchmark interest rate increases and nine reserve requirement ratio hikes.
In a separate central bank survey, most bankers said they expect more monetary tightening in the third quarter after four interest-rate increases since October.
Two thirds of bankers questioned at about 3,000 institutions said they expect monetary policy to become tighter in the next quarter, little changed from the previous survey.
The number forecasting gains in interest rates in the next quarter had declined to 68.2 percent from the previous survey's 73.5 percent.
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