Housing prices are increasing! The real estate markets in Beijing and Shanghai have emitted the most potent signals yet. On March 16th, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on price changes for new commercial residential buildings in 70 large and medium-sized cities for February showed that new home prices in first-tier cities have taken the lead in halting a nine-month consecutive decline. Prices for existing homes in core cities like Beijing and Shanghai have also warmed up simultaneously, injecting a confidence boost into the national market's recovery. However, the overall market remains in an adjustment phase, with sales data significantly impacted by the high base from the same period last year, funding pressures persist, and divergence between cities of different tiers is intensifying.
The new home market is showing signs of recovery. In February, among the 70 large and medium-sized cities, the number of cities where new home prices increased month-on-month rose to 10, up by 5 from January; 7 cities saw flat prices month-on-month; the number of cities with declining prices was 53, a decrease of 9 from January. Changchun, Nanjing, and Yichang led the nation with price increases of 0.3% each. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Hangzhou all recorded increases of 0.2%.
By city tier, new home prices in first-tier cities were the first to stop falling and register a slight increase, ending a previous nine-month streak of declines, which holds significant indicative meaning. Among them, Guangzhou's prices were flat, while Shenzhen saw a decrease of 0.3%. Li Yujia, Chief Researcher at the Housing Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Provincial Academy of Urban and Rural Planning, stated that key cities exhibit "bellwether" characteristics and are crucial for the overall stabilization of housing prices. He noted that recently, in popular cities, not only do low-total-price secondary market transactions continue to dominate, but transactions of mid-priced existing homes have also begun to stabilize, which aids the virtuous cycle between rigid demand and improved demand, and between new and existing homes.
**Market Outlook: US Stocks Rose Across the Board Overnight; Most Popular Chinese Stocks Gained** At the close overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 387.94 points, or 0.83%, to 46,946.41. The Nasdaq Composite rose by 268.82 points, or 1.22%, to 22,374.18. The S&P 500 gained 67.19 points, or 1.01%, to 6,699.38. Technology stocks generally advanced. Popular Chinese stocks mostly rose, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index up 0.95%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ADRs also climbed.
**Hotspot Preview: UAE's ADNOC Forced to Implement Widespread Shutdown** The UAE's state-owned oil giant, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), was forced to implement extensive shutdowns, reducing the country's daily crude oil production by more than half. According to reports on the 16th, no vessels navigated the critical global energy shipping chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, on the 14th.
**Three Ministries, including MIIT: Launch Comprehensive Hydrogen Energy Application Pilot Work** By 2030, hydrogen energy in city clusters is expected to achieve large-scale application across diverse sectors, with the average end-user price of hydrogen dropping below 25 RMB per kilogram, aiming for around 15 RMB per kilogram in some advantageous regions. The national stock of fuel cell vehicles is targeted to double compared to 2025, striving to reach 100,000 units.
**Hong Kong Financial Secretary: Hong Kong Property Prices Continue to Rise, Market Nears Pre-Pandemic Levels** On March 16th, according to reports, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, stated that Hong Kong's property prices increased by about 3.3% last year and have continued to rise in recent months, albeit not sharply. Residential transaction volumes have remained between 5,500 and 6,000 deals over the past three months.
**Yao Cai Securities Financial (01428): Resumes Trading on March 17th** Yao Cai Securities Financial (01428) and the offeror jointly announced that all conditions precedent for the share purchase agreement have been satisfied, except for those to be fulfilled upon completion. Trading will resume on March 17th.
**Allied Group (00373) Issues Profit Alert** Allied Group (00373) announced that it expects to report a comprehensive profit attributable to shareholders of approximately HK$2.0 billion to HK$2.3 billion for the year, turning around from a loss in the previous year.
**Qingdao Port (06198) 2025 Annual Results** Qingdao Port (06198) released its 2025 annual performance report. The company achieved operating revenue of 18.806 billion RMB, a slight decrease of 0.71% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders was 5.272 billion RMB, a slight increase of 0.7% year-on-year.
**CIFI Holdings (00884) Issues Profit Alert** CIFI Holdings (00884) announced that it expects to report a net profit attributable to shareholders of approximately RMB 17 billion to RMB 19 billion for the year, turning around from a loss. This is mainly due to a one-time gain of approximately RMB 40 billion from the completion of its offshore debt restructuring.
**Min Xin Holdings (00222) Issues Profit Alert** Min Xin Holdings (00222) announced that the group expects to record a profit attributable to shareholders of approximately HK$110 million to HK$130 million for the year, an increase of about 25% to 48% compared to the same period last year.
**Pegasus Biopharmaceutical-B (02565) Reaches Exclusive Commercialization Cooperation for Paidacn in Mainland China** Pegasus Biopharmaceutical-B (02565) announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Topreach Pharmaceutical for the commercialization of its core product, Paidacn, in Mainland China. The collaboration aims for cumulative sales exceeding RMB 10 billion.
**CHOW SANG SANG (00116) Forecasts 2025 Annual Profit** CHOW SANG SANG (00116) announced that for the year ending December 31, 2025, it expects profit attributable to owners from continuing operations to be between HK$1.6 billion and HK$1.7 billion, compared to HK$772 million in the previous year.
**HAITIAN International (01882) Releases 2025 Annual Results** HAITIAN International (01882) announced its annual results for the year ended December 31, 2025. Revenue reached 17.733 billion RMB, an increase of 10% year-on-year. Profit attributable to owners was 3.301 billion RMB, an increase of 7.2% year-on-year.
**Stock Focus: MONTAGE Technology (06809): Global Leader in CXL Chips to Directly Benefit from AI Industry Demand Growth** Google may adopt an external DRAM memory pool architecture based on optical interconnect in its TPU v8, replacing HBM memory. This move is expected to dynamically adjust performance and reshape the IDC supply chain, driving an explosion in demand for CXL interconnect chips. As the global leader in CXL chips, the company is positioned to directly benefit from this growth in industrial demand. Institutions forecast the CXL interconnect chip market to reach $1.7 billion by 2030, with a CAGR exceeding 170% from 2025 to 2030. MONTAGE Technology, with its clear advantages in the memory expansion controller field, having completed technological breakthroughs and compliance certifications with memory manufacturers, stands to gain directly from this rising demand.
Comments