China May home prices rise 6.9% y-o-y

[HONG KONG] China's home prices rose 6.9 per cent in May, accelerating from the previous month's 6.2 per cent gain, an official survey showed on Saturday, boosted by price increases in second-tier cities which are fuelling overheating concerns.

Compared with a month earlier, home prices rose 0.9 per cent, slowing from April's 1.2 per cent, according to Reuters calculations from data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The southern city of Shenzhen was again the top performer, with home prices rising 53.2 per cent from a year ago.

The coastal city of Xiamen surpassed the top-tier cities and saw the second highest price rise of 28 per cent. Shanghai prices rose 27.7 per cent.

The recovery in China's property market since late last year has been a rare bright spot in the world's second-largest economy, which has been slowing due to weak demand at home and abroad, cooling investment and excess industrial capacity.

REUTERS