China's home prices up in February

BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Major Chinese cities in general reported rising home prices last month, adding to evidence of a stabilizing property sector, official data showed Thursday.

In February, 55 out of 70 large and medium-sized cities saw month-on-month increases in new home prices, up from 36 in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile, 40 cities witnessed higher resale home prices, up from 13 in the previous month.

Remarking on the data, Sheng Guoqing, the bureau's senior statistician, said the effect of government policies to stabilize the property market gradually appeared and the housing demand was also further unleashed.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- edged up 0.2 percent, the same growth rate with January.

In 31 second-tier cities, prices of new homes gained 0.4 percent, picking up pace from the 0.1-percent increase a month earlier. New housing in 35 third-tier cities saw the prices up 0.3 percent, reversing a 0.1-percent drop registered in January.

Warming signs were also seen on the second-hand market as prices went up 0.7 percent and 0.1 percent month on month in first and second-tier cities, respectively, and ended a losing streak to stay flat in third-tier cities.