CHINA’S home prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities were generally stable in September, with first-tier cities seeing home prices basically unchanged, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday. New home prices in China’s four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen — were flat month on month in September, following a month-on-month decline of 0.2% in August, the NBS said. On a year-on-year basis, new home prices in the first-tier cities rose 0.7% last month. However, new home prices in more than half of 70 surveyed cities, which include the four first-tier cities, maintained a downward trend in September. The data showed that 45 cities reported year-on-year drops in new home prices last month, up from 44 in August. The data also showed that prices of new homes in 31 second-tier cities and 35 third-tier cities edged down 0.3% in September compared with August. China has stepped up policy efforts to promote the sound development of the property market over the past few months. Measures rolled out so far include cutting interest rates on existing mortgages for first-home loans and easing mortgage rules. Central bank data showed that China’s property sector, considered a major economic drag, is showing signs of recovery. High-frequency data indicated a rebound in house transactions in major cities, and September credit statistics showed a month-on-month addition of over 100 billion yuan (US$13.93 billion) in real estate development loans and individual mortgages. (Xinhua) | 