Home prices in most Chinese cities continued to rise in December although smaller gains were realized by a growing number.
Among the first-tier cities, Guangzhou reported the highest rate increase of new home prices at 0.7 percent from November. Prices in Beijing and Shanghai rose by 0.6 percent while new home prices in Shenzhen increased by 0.5 percent.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Saturday, prices of new residential properties, excluding that of government subsidized housing, rose month on month in 65 of the total 70 cities monitored by the bureau.
Home price increases were observed to slow down across China last month with four gateway cities all realizing slower growth in the previous month, according to the Bureau's senior statistician Liu Jianwei. The utilization of more control measures by local governments has helped change expectations of some potential buyers, Liu added.
In December, smaller monthly gains in prices of new homes were recorded in 39 cities, up by seven compared to November figures. Smaller increases in prices of existing homes were recorded in 36 cities, three more than the past month.
Month-on-month growth of prices of new homes in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou in December decreased by 0.1 percentage point compared to November while the decrease in monthly growth rates in Shenzhen was 0.4 percentage point.
Comparison of annual figures show that 69 cities reported price increase rates same as November. Smaller annual gains in the prices of new homes were reported in 29 cities-a 19 percent increase on November. Smaller increases in the prices of existing houses, on the other hand, were reported in 16 cities compared to last year's-an 11 percentage point increase compared to November.