Price ease for new homes in major cities

The growth of new home prices in first-tier Chinese cities eased in December while there was a moderate increase in lower-tier ones, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

In the four gateway cities, new home prices edged up by an average 0.2 percent compared with November’s 0.4 percentage points rise, according to the bureau, which tracks housing prices in 70 major Chinese cities.

Beijing and Shenzhen recorded month-over-month gains of 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. New home prices in Shanghai remained flat and they fell 0.3 percent in Guangzhou, which continued to be the only one in the four to witness a retreat.

In the pre-occupied housing market, prices in the four gateway cities added 0.4 percent, accelerating from November's 0.2 percent rise.

In 31 second-tier cities and 35 third-tier cities, new home prices rose by an average of 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, both picking up by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. Prices of existing homes in second-tier cities climbed by 0.1 percent, even with the previous two months, and climbed 0.2 percent in third-tier cities, easing from November's 0.3 percent growth.

New home prices in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, rose 1.3 percent in December, the largest month-on-month increase, bureau data showed.

On a year-on-year basis, prices of new homes added 3.8 percent, 7.3 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, in first, second and third-tier cities. In the pre-occupied market, they gained 1.7 percent, 3.7 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively, from the same period a year ago.