China's home prices slightly up in March

BEIJING -- Home prices in 100 Chinese cities saw a slight increase last month, an industry report showed.

Among the 100 surveyed cities, average new home prices edged up 0.2 percent from February to 15,916 yuan (about $2,424) per square meter in March, according to the China Index Academy, a property research institution.

Year-on-year, average new home prices increased 4.07 percent.

A total of 76 cities saw a month-on-month increase in home prices in March, while 23 cities saw home prices decrease.

In this year's government work report, China reiterated the principle that "housing is for living in, not for speculation" for the third time since it was first proposed in 2016, vowing to keep the prices of land and housing as well as market expectations stable.