On December 21, 2021, the first financial China high frequency economic activity index (yhei) was 0.91, down 0.06 from a week ago, showing a downward trend since December. In the week ending December 21, the "coastal coal freight index" and "import dry bulk cargo freight index" decreased by 0.30 and 0.19 respectively, both of which fell to the lowest since August this year on December 21; The "30 city commercial housing sales index" rebounded slightly, but it is still 20% away from the base point.
Steel prices picked up this week. The price of steel billets in Tangshan rose by 2.08% in the week ending December 21, 5.74% in the past month and 16.62% this year. Cement and coal prices continued to decline. The cement price index fell by 1.93% in the week ended December 21, decreased by 8.83% in the past month and increased by 22.55% this year. The price of thermal coal has decreased by 3.38% in the past month and has increased by 27.01% this year.
As of the week of December 21, the central bank's net investment through the open market was 20 billion yuan. The inter-bank overnight interest rate fell 33 basis points in the week ended December 21, 14 basis points in the past month and 38 basis points so far this year. The seven day repo rate fell 20 basis points in the week ended December 21, 10 basis points in the past month and 50 basis points in the year.
In November, house sales prices continued to decline. The price indexes of new commercial houses and second-hand houses in 70 large and medium-sized cities decreased by 0.3% and 0.4% month on month respectively; The year-on-year growth rate slowed by 0.4 percentage points compared with October. In November, the year-on-year decline in second-hand housing prices in first tier cities was the most significant, down 5.6 percentage points from the peak in March this year; Compared with the previous month, it decreased by 0.9 percentage points month on month and has been lower for seven consecutive months.
High frequency data show that housing transactions have weakened since December. Compared with the same period in November, the 2-year average growth rate (compared with 2019) of the cumulative transaction area of new houses and second-hand houses in the first, second and third tier cities (as of December 21) is lower; among them, the growth rate of transaction area of new houses and second-hand houses in the first tier cities has decreased slightly, showing stronger toughness.
