THE housing market in China remained stable in October, with slower month-on-month growth in home prices in major cities, official data showed yesterday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen — rose by 0.3 percent month on month in October, 0.1 percentage points slower from a month earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On a month-on-month basis, new home prices edged up 0.1 percent in 31 second-tier cities, and rose 0.2 percent in 35 third-tier cities.

Prices of resold homes in first-tier cities edged up 0.5 percent month on month in October, with growth slowing 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. The price rise in second-tier cities remained unchanged from the previous month at 0.2 percent, and third-tier cities saw month-on-month growth slowing 0.4 percentage points in their resold home prices.

In October, local governments continued to maintain the principle that “housing is for living in, not for speculation,” and adopted measures to promote steady and sound development of the real estate market, said Sheng Guoqing, a senior NBS statistician. (Xinhua)