China new home prices rise 0.4% in Dec, full year growth 5.3%

[BEIJING] Growth in new home prices in China rose to a five-month high in December after stabilising for two consecutive months, despite a range of government moves to rein in an overheated property market.

Average new home prices in China's 70 major cities rose 0.4 per cent in December from the previous month, compared with an increase of 0.3 per cent in November, Reuters calculated from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data out on Thursday.

New home prices rose 5.3 per cent in December versus a year earlier, picking up from an 5.1 per cent increase in November.

China's housing market has been on a more than two-year tear, giving a major boost to the economy but stirring fears of a property bubble even as authorities work to contain risks from a rapid build-up in debt.

Home prices have slowly levelled out in the biggest cities in recent months under the weight of increasingly tough cooling measures, though some smaller cities are still seeing appreciable rises.

REUTERS