China's home prices slightly up in May

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

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- rose 0.7 percent month-on-month in May, compared with a 0.6-percent increase registered in April, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

A total of 31 second-tier cities saw a month-on-month increase of 0.6 percent in new home prices, while 35 third-tier cities witnessed a month-on-month rise of 0.4 percent in new home prices last month.

The resale home market in first-tier cities saw prices increase 0.6 percent month-on-month in May, edging down 0.2 percentage points from April.

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 6 percent in May, up from 5.8-percent growth in April, while those in second-tier cities went up 5 percent, up from a 4.9-percent expansion in the previous month.

The resale home prices in first-tier cities grew 10.8 percent from a year earlier, narrowing 0.5 percentage points from the growth in April.