2010-08-10 09:30

Housing prices in major Chinese cities rose 10.3 percent year-on-year in July, 1.1 percentage points lower than the increase in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.

This was the third consecutive month that China's property prices grew at a slower pace. Property prices in the 70 large and medium-sized cities grew 11.4 percent in June, one percentage point lower than that of May.

New home prices rose 12.9 percent year-on-year in July, down 1.2 percentage points from June. Prices of second-hand homes gained 6.7 percent last month, compared with an increase of 7.7 percent in June.

The Chinese government started a campaign in April to rein in soaring house prices, including tightened scrutiny of developers' financing, limited loans for third-home purchases, and higher down-payment requirements for second-home purchases.