China Residential Market Accelerates

China’s house-price growth accelerated in April as the central bank’s credit easing gave the property market a much-needed lift out of the coronavirus shutdown. New-home prices in 70 major cities, excluding state-subsidized housing, gained 0.42% in April, National Bureau of Statistics data released Monday showed. That’s up from a 0.13% increase in March. Prices in the secondary market, which is free from government intervention, rose 0.22% last month after edging up just 0.05% in March. The gain shows China’s property market is steadily recovering as the nation returns to business-as-usual after widespread shutdowns and travel restrictions hobbled the economy in the first quarter. Data released Friday showed sales had almost rebounded to year-earlier levels in April.