China's home prices see mild increases in February

BEIJING -- China continued to see a generally stable housing market in February, with home prices in 70 major cities showing mild month-on-month increases, official data showed Monday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- rose 0.5 percent month-on-month in February, compared with a 0.6-percent increase registered in January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

A total of 31 second-tier cities saw a month-on-month increase of 0.4 percent in new home prices, while 35 third-tier cities witnessed a month-on-month rise of 0.3 percent in new home prices last month.

The resale home market in first-tier cities saw prices increase 1.1 percent month-on-month in February, edging down 0.2 percentage points from January.

Prices of resale homes in second-tier cities saw a 0.4-percent month-on-month increase, while those in third-tier cities climbed 0.2 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, new home prices in first-tier cities rose 4.8 percent in February, up 0.6 percentage points from January, while those in second-tier cities edged up 4.5 percent, compared with the 4.1-percent increase in January.

The resale home prices in first-tier cities grew 10.8 percent from a year earlier, expanding 1.2 percentage points from the growth in January.

Based on the relatively low base of the same period in 2020, the year-on-year increase of commercial housing prices in all three-tier cities expanded, said Sheng Guoqing, a senior NBS statistician.