THE pace of home price growth continued to decelerate in China in May with fewer cities recording month-on-month increases, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.
Excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, home prices rose in 65 of the 70 cities tracked by the bureau, compared with 67 in April and 68 in March.
In the existing home market, meanwhile, 64 cities registered monthly growth in May, compared with 66 in April.
Nationwide, Guilin in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region saw the biggest increase at 2.9 percent last month.
Among the country's four first-tier cities, Shenzhen led with a 1.9 percent increase, followed by Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, which rose 1.7 percent, 1.6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, the bureau said.
Tangshan, Changde and Sanya registered declines last month, while prices in Luzhou and Zunyi remained unchanged.
Year on year, new home prices rose in 69 of the 70 cities, compared to 68 in April and 67 in March.
"As tightening measures continued to take effect, the number of cities registering price gains kept declining in both new and existing home markets," said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the bureau.
"Of those seeing monthly growth, 34 recorded a decelerating pace."
The latest data echoed an earlier report released by the bureau which demonstrated easing sentiment among home buyers following an extremely hectic March.
The value of new home purchases in China rose 56.8 percent to 2.19 trillion yuan (US$353 billion) in the first five months of the year, compared to a 65.2 percent annual growth registered in the first four months and a 69 percent increase in the first quarter, the bureau said earlier this month.
By volume, new home purchases climbed 37.6 percent to 351 million square meters between January and May, also decelerating from a 41 percent growth recorded in the first four months.
While the trend will likely extend as the traditional slack season for home purchase is approaching with the hottest months of summer, Liu said property tightening policies should be strictly implemented as the majority of Chinese cities still registered monthly and yearly price growth.