On January 19, the National Bureau of Statistics released the "Basic Situation of the National Real Estate Market in 2025" and the "Changes in Commercial Residential Sales Prices in 70 Large and Medium-sized Cities in December 2025." Data shows that in 2025, national real estate development investment reached 8,278.8 billion yuan, a decrease of 17.2% from the previous year; the sales area of newly built commercial housing was 881.01 million square meters, down 8.7% year-on-year; sales of newly built commercial housing amounted to 8,393.7 billion yuan, declining by 12.6%. In terms of prices, in December 2025, among the 70 large and medium-sized cities, 6 cities saw month-on-month increases in new home prices, while 5 cities recorded year-on-year increases. Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Hefei led the year-on-year price gains for new homes, with increases of 4.8%, 2.2%, and 1.5% respectively. Wang Zhonghua, Chief Statistician of the Urban Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, noted while interpreting the data that in December 2025, the sales prices of commercial residential buildings in 70 large and medium-sized cities generally declined month-on-month, with the year-on-year declines widening. Zhang Bo, Dean of the 58 Anjuke Research Institute, analyzed: "Signals of a halt in declines and a recovery in the first-tier market are strengthening. Shanghai's new home prices rose 0.2% month-on-month and surged 4.8% year-on-year, making it the only first-tier city to achieve double gains both monthly and annually. The strong sales of large units over 144 square meters confirm the solid resilience of upgrade demand. The secondary market also shows signs of improvement; the month-on-month decline in existing home prices in first-tier cities narrowed by 0.2 percentage points, with Shanghai's decline narrowing to 0.6%, indicating that wait-and-see sentiment on the demand side is gradually dissipating." Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2025, national real estate development investment was 8,278.8 billion yuan (calculated on a comparable basis), down 17.2% from the previous year; residential investment was 6,351.4 billion yuan, falling 16.3%. The sales area of newly built commercial housing was 881.01 million square meters, down 8.7% year-on-year; residential sales area dropped 9.2%. Sales of newly built commercial housing totaled 8,393.7 billion yuan, decreasing 12.6%; residential sales value fell 13.0%. "Roughly calculated, the national average selling price for commercial housing in 2025 was 9,527 yuan per square meter, a year-on-year decrease of 4.1%," Yan Yuejin pointed out. "Currently, housing prices are generally in an adjustment process. Recent trends in some cities show that price stability and guidance are crucial; for instance, Tianjin implemented 'price decline restrictions.' Price stability is key as it affects expectations for both supply and demand; local governments must diligently manage this work in 2026." In 2025, the construction area of housing by real estate development enterprises was 6,598.90 million square meters, a decrease of 10.0% from the previous year. Residential construction area was 4,601.23 million square meters, down 10.3%. Regarding capital availability for enterprises, real estate developers secured 9,311.7 billion yuan in funds in 2025, a year-on-year decrease of 13.4%. Yan Yuejin analyzed: "The financial environment will further improve in 2026, and efforts by developers to reduce inventory will also be optimized. From this perspective, local governments indeed need to actively undertake various tasks to ensure improved capital availability for developers and further prevent and resolve related financial risks during this process." Looking ahead to 2026, Li Yujia, Chief Researcher at the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, believes that the state is making significant efforts to control new supply, reduce inventory, and promote quality housing. Simultaneously, there are numerous measures to repair the fundamental economic aspects, such as supporting childbirth, parenting, education, citizenization of migrant populations, employment, and other social securities. Efforts are being made both on the supply and demand sides of the industry and to restore the underlying logic for market stabilization through economic fundamentals. "Overall, the recent narrowing of declines in new home prices in first-tier cities, the reduction in new secondary listings, and the rapid absorption of lower-priced existing homes indicate that, with prices adjusting to appropriate levels and a friendly purchasing environment, rigid demand is beginning to enter the market actively. This is expected to boost transaction activity, which is also key to price stability in 2026," Li Yujia added. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in December 2025, new commercial residential sales prices in first-tier cities fell 0.3% month-on-month, with the rate of decline narrowing by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. Shanghai saw a 0.2% increase, while Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen fell by 0.4%, 0.6%, and 0.5% respectively. New home prices in second-tier cities declined 0.4% month-on-month, with the rate of decline widening by 0.1 percentage points. Third-tier cities saw a 0.4% month-on-month decrease, with the decline rate unchanged from the previous month. It was noted that in December 2025, Hefei's new home price index increased by 1.5% year-on-year, expanding by 0.2 percentage points compared to the 1.3% growth in November. Year-on-year, new commercial residential sales prices in first-tier cities fell 1.7%, with the decline widening by 0.5 percentage points from the previous month. Shanghai rose 4.8%, while Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen dropped 2.4%, 4.8%, and 4.4% respectively. Second and third-tier cities saw year-on-year declines of 2.5% and 3.7% respectively, with the declines widening by 0.3 and 0.2 percentage points. "In December 2025, six cities saw month-on-month increases in their new home price indices: Shanghai, Changchun, Jilin, Yichang, Shaoguan, and Sanya," said Yan Yuejin, Vice President of the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute. "The characteristics of these cities are very clear: first, core cities are leading the way, especially Shanghai, which has a solid urban foundation and relatively sufficient replacement demand, leading to positive market performance; Sanya benefits from the new Free Trade Port policies, generating some heat in the home purchasing market; other second and third-tier cities showed price performance at year-end, related to deep price adjustments and the release of year-end home purchase demand." For existing homes, in December 2025, sales prices in first-tier cities fell 0.9% month-on-month, with the decline narrowing by 0.2 percentage points. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen dropped 1.3%, 0.6%, 1.0%, and 0.6% respectively. Second and third-tier cities both saw a 0.7% month-on-month decline, with the rate of decline widening by 0.1 percentage points in both. Year-on-year, in December 2025, existing home sales prices in first-tier cities fell 7.0%, with the decline widening by 1.2 percentage points. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen declined 8.5%, 6.1%, 7.8%, and 5.4% respectively. Second and third-tier cities both saw a 6.0% year-on-year decrease, with declines widening by 0.4 and 0.2 percentage points respectively. "The trend of trading volume for price in the secondary market remains unchanged. Over 80% of the 70 cities' existing home price indices are below 95 year-on-year, reflecting that the pace of landlords actively adjusting prices in the secondary market continues," Zhang Bo stated. According to monitoring by the 58 Anjuke Research Institute across 46 key cities, the monthly average proportion of home seekers looking at existing homes in 2025 was 65.4%, up 2.8 percentage points from 2024. The share increased notably in cities like Shanghai and Zhengzhou, indicating that market demand has not disappeared but has become more price-sensitive; the trend of falling prices and rising volumes in the secondary market aligns with this observation.