China's home prices see slower growth in April

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China's housing market saw narrowed growth last month, official data showed Wednesday.

In April, 62 out of 70 large- and medium-sized cities saw month-on-month increases in new home prices, slightly down from 64 in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Meanwhile, 36 cities witnessed higher resale home prices, down from 57 in March.

On a yearly basis, 22 out of the 70 major cities saw higher new home prices, up from 18 in March, while 9 cities registered higher resale home prices, up from 8 last month.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou -- went up 0.4 percent in April, compared with 0.3-percent growth in March.

In 31 second-tier cities, prices of new homes gained 0.4 percent, shrinking from the 0.6-percent increase a month earlier. New housing in 35 third-tier cities saw prices up 0.2 percent, edging down from the 0.3-percent growth in March.

Home prices in the second-hand market saw generally slower monthly growth in April, according to the NBS.

Year on year, home prices in first-tier cities witnessed growth in April, while those in second- and third-tier cities reported slower decline, NBS data revealed.