Property prices maintain stability in Dec

Property prices in the nation's major cities remained stable in December as pre-owned home prices in top-tier cities declined month-on-month, and both the new and used residential price growth rate moderated in second and third-tier cities, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

Local governments continued to carry out tailored measures toward the property market, while home prices maintained stability in the last month of 2018, said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the NBS.

"The new home price index of the 70 cities surveyed grew 0.8 percent month-on-month on average, and rose 10.6 percent year-on-year. The narrowing month-on-month growth rate may have something to do with discounts offered and the promotion of home sales, and the rising year-on-year growth rate is a result of the comparatively high month-on-month growth of the past few months," said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institution.