Home prices in first- and second-tier cities across China were stable in late December, thanks to government's efforts to regulate the overheated domestic property market, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.
Of the 70 cities monitored by the NBS, 46 cities reported new home prices grew month-on-month in December 2016, up from 55 cities in November.
In first-tier cities in December, the growth rate of new home prices fell by 1.9 percentage points from the previous month, the NBS said in a statement on its website. For previously owned homes, the growth rate fell 2 percentage points.
In December, new home prices fell on a monthly basis in 12 of 15 cities with red-hot property markets, including the four first-tier cities. Prices fell between 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points, the NBS said, noting that two cities reported flat growth.
China's four first-tier cities are Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Guangzhou and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province.
Home prices in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, rose 0.7 percent month-on-month in late December, though the rate of growth was down for the third straight month.
