Residential property market remains stable: official data

China’s residential property market remained generally stable for another month with measures aimed to curb speculation and promote healthy development of the industry remaining in place, official data showed today.

Nationwide, new home prices in all-tiered cities registered minor increases in January from a month ago, while in the pre-occupied housing market, both first and second-tier cities recorded decreases, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, which monitors home prices in 70 major cities around the country.

In particular, new home prices in the four gateway cities rose an average 0.4 percent in January from a month ago, decelerating from a 1.3 percent growth in December. They climbed 0.6 percent, 0.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and slipped 0.1 percent in Shenzhen. In the existing housing market, prices in the four cities fell an average 0.1 percent. They were down 0.1 percent, 0.3 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and remained unchanged in Shanghai, according to the bureau.

In the 31 second-tier cities, new home prices rose an average 0.7 percent, a same pace as in December. Prices of existing homes, meanwhile, dipped 0.1 percent, compared with a 0.1 percent gain a month earlier.

Both new and existing home prices in the 35 third-tier cities climbed at a slower rate in January from a month ago. They rose 0.6 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, in the new and pre-used home market, compared with a growth of 0.7 percent and 0.3 percent in December.

Across the country, new home prices in Dali, Yunnan Province, witnessed the biggest month-on-month increase of 2 percent, the bureau's data showed.

On a year-on-year basis, prices of new homes in all-tiered cities rose at a faster pace in January. They climbed 3.3 percent, 11.6 percent and 11 percent, respectively, in first, second and third-tier cities. In the pre-occupied residential market, they climbed 0.4 percent, 8 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively, from the same period a year ago, the bureau said.