中國房價再跌 樓市陰雲難消

China’s housing bubble continued to deflate in July, with a third straight monthly decline in the price of new homes.

中國房地產泡沫在7月繼續萎縮，新房價格連續第三個月下跌。

The National Bureau of Statistics said average prices across 70 large and medium-sized cities fell by 0.9% in the month, an acceleration from drops of 0.2% in May and 0.5% in June. It said prices fell in 64 of the cities surveyed.

國家統計局表示，中國70個大中型城市的房價在7月平均下跌0.9%，較之5月的0.2%和6月的0.5%跌幅更加嚴重。據國家統計局稱，在全部被調查城市中有64個出現了房價下跌現象。

The figures come only a few days after the central bank announced a sharp drop in the amount of new loans being given by Chinese banks in July, a development that it put down to banks trying to reduce exposure to real estate and tighten their risk management standards.

而就在該數據發佈前幾天，央行宣佈，中國各大銀行在7月份的放貸量出現了顯著下降。央行將其歸因於銀行正試圖減少房地產貸款，提高了風險控制標準。

Years of easy money have fueled a massive construction boom across the country, as hundreds of millions of workers have migrated to the cities from the countryside. But there have been increasing signs this year that the supply of new housing has outstripped demand, leaving banks sitting on a lot of loans to developers that have turned sour.

隨着中國的數億勞動力從農村移居城市，房地產多年來一直是暴利行業，在全國範圍內掀起了大規模的建房熱潮。但今年，有越來越多的跡象表明，新房供應量已經超過了需求量，導致銀行借給開發商的大量資金已成爲不良貸款。

The authorities have tried to address the problem by leaning on the country’s largest banks to increase their buffers against potential losses. They have also approved the creation of ‘bad banks’ in five regions where the housing bubble was most inflated, with a view to transferring bad loans out of the banking system, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

有關部門試圖通過依靠一些國內最大的銀行增加資本緩衝，以應對可能的損失。據《華爾街日報》（Wall Street Journal）本週一報道稱，中國政府同意在房地產泡沫最爲嚴重的五個地區成立“壞賬銀行”，以清理銀行賬目上的不良貸款。

In year-on-year terms, prices were still up by 2.5%, but the rate of increase has slowed from nearly 10% at the start of the year.

與去年同期相比，今年中國的房價總體仍上漲了2.5%，但自年初以來房價的同比增長速度已經下降了近10%。

China’s government is targeting growth of around 7.5% this year, but the rate slowed substantially in the first quarter as the economy struggled with the government’s top priority of rebalancing it away from exports to domestic consumption. The government and central bank then enacted a range of stimulus measures that appeared to revive activity, and factory output was on the rise again by June.

中國政府將今年的經濟增長目標定在了7.5%左右，但第一季度政府將工作重點放在調整經濟重心從出口導向轉向國內消費上，經濟增速放緩。隨後，政府和央行推行了一系列刺激措施，似乎扭轉了態勢，製造業產出在6月有所回升。

However, evidence of weakness still continues to come in from a number of areas, and Reuters reported Monday that foreign direct investment hit a two-year low in July. In addition to the economic slowdown, investor sentiment has also suffered from a number of territorial disputes with its neighbors, which are all big investors into China. Also, the country’s antitrust authorities are increasingly flexing their muscles in an effort to stop what they see as price gouging by foreign companies.

然而，中國經濟的疲軟依然在許多領域有所體現。路透社（Reuters）在本週一報道稱，中國7月的外商直接投資（FDI）創造了兩年來的新低。除去經濟衰退之外，投資者情緒也由於中國與鄰國的一系列領土爭端受到影響。同時，中國的反壟斷部門也正在增強執法力度，打擊外國公司存在的價格欺詐現象。