China’s new home prices fell for the eighth consecutive month in April from a year earlier but were flat from March, adding to hopes that a property downturn which is weighing heavily on the economy is beginning to bottom out. Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities dropped 6.1 percent last month from a year ago, the same rate of decline as in March, according to Reuters calculations based on official data published on Monday. “We expect home sales to see year-on-year growth in the second half of the year, and home prices in third- and fourth-tier cities to also bottom out in the second half,” said Nomura chief China economist Zhao Yang. Zhao said real estate investment, which comprises around 20 percent of China’s GDP, may grow less than 5 percent this year, compared with 10.5 percent in 2014, knocking 1 percentage point off economic growth.
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