Apartments are seen in East China's Fujian Province. China's housing market was generally stable in August, as new home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen -- rose 0.6 percent montn-on-month, up 0.1 percentage points from a month earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Photo: cnsphoto

China's new home prices in major cities rose 0.3 percent month-on-month in July, the lowest gain in six months amid new government measures controlling property prices, according to data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

That compared with 0.41 percent rise in June. Meanwhile, prices in the secondary property market rose 0.11 percent in June, the lowest growth since October last year, the data showed.

"In July, the sale prices of commercial residential buildings in 70 large and medium-size cities saw a general fall in its month-on-month and year-on-year increase," said Sheng Guoqing, chief statistician of the urban department of NBS.

China's property market has cooled following new government measures controlling runaway prices. Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng said in June that real estate investment should not be used as a short-term stimulus to shore up economy. 

Regulators in the capital of Beijing have been stepping up oversight of the property market since the beginning of 2021, including a crackdown on school district home speculation, and banning illegal entry of funds such as business loans into the market.

In addition, the authorities in Huangpu district in Guangzhou, South China's Guangzhou Province, issued a document in August upending the so-called "green channel" policy for introduced talents' property purchase. In June, Shanghai also raised its mortgage rates for buying first and second homes.

As of July, China has issued administrative measures curbing the property market for more than 320 times, among which policies issued by various ministries totaled 45 times. This compares with 30 times in the same period in 2020. 

China's central government has reiterated the principle that "hoyse is for living, not for speculating," and has required local authorities to scrutinize house financing more strictly.

Global Times