THE country continued to see a generally stable housing market in December 2021, with home prices in 70 major cities showing slight month-on-month declines, official data showed Saturday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou — edged down 0.1 percent month on month on average in December although price movements diverged, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

New home prices in Beijing were largely flat from a month earlier, while Shanghai reported a 0.4-percent increase. Prices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen fell 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

Contrary to the general cooling of prices for new buildings, prices in the second-hand home market in the four cities picked up 0.1 percent month on month in December.

In the 31 second-tier and 35 third-tier cities, new home prices dropped 0.3 percent month on month in both markets.

“In general, home prices in the 70 monitored cities have continued the declining trend seen since the fourth quarter of last year,” said Sheng Guoqing, a senior NBS statistician.

On a year-on-year basis, new home prices in first-tier cities rose 4.4 percent in December, down from the 4.8-percent growth seen in November, while those in second-tier and third-tier cities went up 2.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Despite the general cooling of the housing market, Yan Yuejin, research director at E-house China R&D Institute, called for attention to the stability of the real estate market in major cities as there is still a possibility of renewed price speculations.

As visible in the data, second-hand houses in first-tier cities did heat up slightly in December.(Xinhua)