Urban housing prices edge higher in March
Home prices in China's urban housing markets were mixed at the city level last month, according to official data released on Tuesday.
Nationwide, prices of both new and pre-occupied homes in all tiered cities rose at a mild pace from a month earlier, as policies to either cool speculation or promote healthy development of the industry remained consistent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, which monitors home prices in 70 major cities around the country.
New home prices in the four first-tier cities climbed an average 0.2 percent, easing from 0.3 percent growth in February. Prices gained 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent in Beijing and Guangzhou, and lost 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
In the existing housing market, prices in the four cities edged up 0.3 percent month on month, compared with a 0.1 percent increase in February. They were up 0.4 percent, 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and shed 0.5 percent in Guangzhou, according to the bureau.
In 31 second-tier cities, new home prices rose an average 0.6 percent last month, compared with 0.7 percent in February. Prices of existing homes jumped 1.2 percent, compared with a 0.2 percent slip in February.
New home prices in 35 third-tier cities advanced 0.7 percent on average last month, accelerating from 0.4 percent growth in February. In the pre-occupied housing market, prices gained by an average 0.5 percent, compared with a 0.2 percent rise in February.
Countrywide, new home prices in Dandong, in northern Liaoning Province, registered the biggest month-on-month increase of 1.9 percent, the bureau's data showed.
On a year-on-year basis, prices of new homes in all-tiered cities also increased in March. They climbed 4.2 percent, 12.2 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively, in first, second and third-tier cities. In the pre-occupied residential market, they climbed 0.5 percent, 8.2 percent and 8.4 percent from the same period a year ago, the bureau said.
