Henan county halts work on real estate project over land rights dispute – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | April 22, 2013

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• Henan county halts work on real estate project over land rights dispute

  A county in Henan province has halted a villa project after reactions to reports that it forcibly seized more than 330 hectares of land from farmers.
  The Huaibin government said on Thursday that the development beside the Huai River had been suspended and a team had been dispatched to investigate.

• China Property prices rise in March Despite New Policies

  Almost all of China’s major cities posted a robust monthly increase in property prices in March, despite the country’s latest round of tightening measures.

  Of the 70 major cities monitored by the National Bureau of Statistics, 68 saw new home prices rise month-on-month, compared with 66 in February, the bureau said on Thursday.

  Wenzhou in Zhejiang province was the only city on the list to experience a price dip last month.

• China’s property market gets a breather of sorts

  China’s real estate investment growth slowed in the first quarter, dragging down the broad economic recovery, though property sales remained strong, pushing up home prices and prompting policymakers to tighten property policies.
  Real estate investment, which was worth 11 per cent of GDP in first quarter of 2013 and directly impacts around 40 other business sectors, rose 20.2 per cent in the first three months of 2013 from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was slower than an annual increase of 22.8 per cent in January-February.

• Sales slump in 2012 for Chinese retail giants

  Sales growth of the Chinese top retail giants in 2012 stumbled to the slowest point for the past decade, the China Chain Store & Franchise Association said on Wednesday.

  Total sales of the top 100 large retail chains in China increased 10.8 percent year-on-year to 1.87 trillion yuan ($303 billion) in 2012, which lower than the 14.3 percent year-on-year increase of 2012 China’s total retail sales.

  Sales of the top Chinese 100 large retail chains increased more than 20 percent year-on-year to 1.65 trillion yuan in 2011. One year earlier, the figure hit 1.66 trillion yuan, a year-on-year jump of 21.2 percent.

This list is updated daily, so tune in again tomorrow for more up to date information.