Xinhua: Home Prices Rise slower in China

New home prices rose at a slower pace in Chinese cities in April as the government's recent tightening measures started to take effect, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday.

Of a statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities, 67 cities saw home prices increase in April from a month earlier, with the highest growth rate at 2.1 percent, down from the 3.2 percent in March.

All the first-tier cities saw their price hikes narrowed. April property prices in Beijing rose 1.8 percent from a month earlier, 0.9 percentage point lower than the pace in March.

Home prices in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen increased 2.0, 2.1 and 1.8 percent, respectively, in April, 1.2, 0.4 and 1.0 percentage points lower than the figures in the previous month.

A total of 36 cities registered slower month-on-month price rises in April, according to the NBS.

In April, two cities saw month-on-month price drop, one more city than that in the previous month. North China's Hohhot and Tangshan cities both logged declines of 0.1 percent in home prices.

Home prices in east China's Wenzhou City, which have decreased for several months, stayed unchanged in April.

On a year-on-year basis, 68 cities saw price increases in April, one more than that in March.

Guangzhou reported the highest growth rate of 13.7 percent year on year, followed by Beijing and Shenzhen. Wenzhou recorded a year-on-year decline of 6.1 percent in property prices.

Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician with the NBS said although Chinese cities reported a slower pace in property price hikes, the prices are still advancing. The implementation of tightening policies remains crucial at this phase.

From: Xinhua
Time:  2013-05-18