China's home prices slightly up in February

China continued to see a generally stable housing market in February, with home prices in 70 major cities showing slight month-on-month increases, official data showed Wednesday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- rose 0.5 percent month on month in February, compared with a 0.6-percent increase registered in January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Prices of second-hand homes in the four cities gained 0.5 percent, up 0.4 percentage points from the growth in January.

New home prices in 31 second-tier cities remained flat compared with that in January, while those in 35 third-tier cities witnessed a month-on-month decrease of 0.3 percent last month.

On a year-on-year basis, new home prices in first-tier cities rose 4.4 percent in February, flat with the expansion seen in January. New home prices in second-tier cities went up 2.1 percent while those in third-tier cities decreased 0.1 percent compared with the same period last year.