Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose by 8.6 per cent in October, the lowest year-on- year increase this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.The growth rate has eased for six consecutive months from the peak in April at 12.8 per cent after the government stepped up controls to curb prices since April. October's rise was down from the 9.1-per cent increase in September.
However, NBS data showed that home prices rose 0.2 per cent from September, underscoring the need to keep discouraging speculation and prevent asset bubbles. New home prices climbed 10.6 per cent year-on-year in October, and are 0.3 per cent higher than September.
Prices for second-hand homes rose 5.9 per cent from a year earlier and 0.1 per cent from September.
Property sales volume fell by 11.2 per cent from a month earlier to 92.78 million square meters in October, and the value dropped 7.7 per cent to 507. 6 billion yuan ($74.42 billion).
Property investment rose 37 per cent year on year to 455.8 billion yuan in October.
That brought the combined investment in the first 10 months to 3.81 trillion yuan, up 36.5 per cent year on year, state run Xinhua reported.
The government, which is considering introducing a property tax, has introduced a raft of measures to crack down on property speculation and rein in home prices, including suspending mortgage loans for third home purchases and raising down-payments.
The country's central bank, in a surprise move last month, announced the first rise in interest rates for almost three years, in a move to tame inflation and surging home prices.
Zhang Dawei, analyst with the Centaline Property in Beijing, said the slowdown in price gains was the result of the new rules unveiled by the government late September.
The new rules stated that all first home buyers must pay a down-payment of at least 30 per cent of the purchase price.
The current measures worked more to reduce sales volume than keep the prices down, he said.
"Many people still prefer buying homes because they are a better hedge against inflation amid the current price hikes in the country," he said, adding that homeowners were reluctant to sell for the same reason.
Property developers were facing no obvious pressure, so prices remained high despite slower growth, he added.
