China's new home prices rose at a slightly faster pace in October after gains had held steady the previous month, as prices remained resilient in the face of falling sales and a tighter liquidity environment.
China's housing market has seen a near two-year boom, giving the economy a major boost but stirring fears of a property bubble, with the government taking strong measures to curtail purchases.
Authorities have been particularly focused on curbing speculative lending in the housing market and have continued a broad effort to avoid a further buildup of debt in the economy.
Average new home prices rose 0.3 percent month-on-month in October, compared with a 0.2 percent gain in September, according to Reuters calculations from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data released on Saturday.
The number of cities surveyed that recorded monthly increases in prices increased in October, indicating broadening strength in markets nationwide.
New home prices rose 5.4 percent year-on-year in October, down from September's 6.3 percent increase as rapid increases subside in the face of government efforts to engineer a soft landing in the housing market.
Data on Monday showed household loans, mostly for property purchases, fell to 450.1 billion yuan ($67.8 billion) in October from 734.9 billion yuan in September.
While monthly price rises peaked in September 2016 at 2.1 percent nationwide, they have softened only slowly, regaining momentum as buyers shrugged off each new set of measures to curb speculation.
Prices for new homes in top-tier cities fell 0.1 percent in October, narrowing from a 0.2 percent decline in September, the NBS said in a note accompanying the data.
