China's December new home prices rise the most in 2013

[BEIJING] China's new home prices in December jumped by the most last year even as the country's biggest cities tightened property controls to moderate price gains.

The average price rose 12 per cent from a year earlier to 10,833 yuan (S$2,259) per square metre, SouFun Holdings Ltd, the nation's biggest real estate website owner, said in a statement on Tuesday based on a survey of 100 cities. Prices climbed 0.7 per cent from November.

Premier Li Keqiang has refrained from adding national property curbs that could hurt economic growth, after predecessor Wen Jiabao in March stepped up a three-year campaign to rein in home prices.