BEIJING, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's housing market remained stable in October, with slower month-on-month growth in home prices in major cities, official data showed Monday.
New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen -- rose by 0.3 percent month on month in October, 0.1 percentage points slower from a month earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
On a monthly basis, new home prices edged up 0.1 percent in 31 second-tier cities, with growth narrowing by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month. New home prices in 35 third-tier cities rose 0.2 percent, compared with a 0.5-percent increase in September.
Prices of resold homes in first-tier cities edged up 0.5 percent month on month in October, with growth slowing 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. The price rise in second-tier cities remained unchanged from the previous month at 0.2 percent, and third-tier cities saw month-on-month growth slowing 0.4 percentage points in their resold home prices.
The stable prices came amid sustained government efforts to rein in housing speculation, with more than 30 cities including Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Chengdu rolling out targeted measures to keep housing inflation within a proper range.
In October, local governments continued to maintain the principle that "housing is for living in, not for speculation," and adopted measures to promote steady and sound development of the real estate market, said Sheng Guoqing, a senior NBS statistician.
The country's overall home prices showed signs of cooling as developers aimed at increasing sales in September and October, traditionally considered peak sale season, said Yan Yuejin, research director at E-house China R&D Institute.
Developers are shifting toward fine management and service to build competitive advantage amid government curbs on housing market speculation, analysts said.
As the property sector enters a stage of steady development, market competition is becoming increasingly fierce and customers more rational, said Cui Xiaoqiang, chief engineer with CIFI Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd., a real estate company.
Such a trend could be clearly seen in the past two months, Cui added.
The country has seen an investment rebound in the real estate sector in recent months as efforts to coordinate COVID-19 containment and economic growth paid off.
Total investment in property development rose 6.3 percent year on year to 11.66 trillion yuan (about 1.77 trillion U.S. dollars) in the Jan.-Oct. period, picking up from the 5.6-percent increase in the first nine months, the NBS data showed.
Investment in residential buildings stood at 8.63 trillion yuan, up 7 percent from the same period last year, quickening from the 6.1-percent rise in Jan.-Sept. period.
Commercial housing sales in terms of floor area totaled 1.33 billion square meters in the first 10 months, basically unchanged from the same period last year. Enditem
A single purchase
