China Center Data Flash: The housing market cool-down begins

Data Flash is a brief interpretive summary of China’s official monthly economic data release.

• Mortgage lending surged yet again and dominated new loan growth in October. However, a slowdown in mortgage lending growth is anticipated soon, given the slowing housing sales growth that emerged in October.
• In response to several months of tightening measures, housing price growth finally decelerated notably in October, and most strongly in the cities where the housing prices had jumped the most year-to-date.
• The prices of industrial outputs continued to rise in October. The price rebound has so far been concentrated in the upstream sectors, leading to production ramp-ups, but in the very industries targeted for significant capacity cuts. 
• On a structural note, corporate finance has become more dependent on equity markets in 2016, as corporate lending from banks has declined.