Prices of new homes on the mainland in June rose for the first time in 10 months as a cut in interest rates buoyed buyer sentiment.
New homes edged up 0.05 per cent more from May to 8,688 yuan (HK$10,632) per square metre, according to a survey of 100 cities by the China Real Estate Index System (Creis), an affiliate of SouFun, the nation's biggest real estate website.
Until June's rebound, prices had fallen every month since September.
Analysts have taken the latest data as a sign that the property market is bottoming out. Still, they doubt the sale of new homes will experience any major price increase over the next several months because the central government is expected to stick with measures aimed at avoiding any sharp rises in housing costs.
Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, who is widely expected to become the next premier during a leadership change in the autumn, pledged yesterday to increase supply of private homes and to curb speculative purchases to stablise the housing market, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Li's remarks came amid calls to relax restrictions on the property market to spur the economy.
Prices edged up in 45 cities last month, Creis found. While 55 cities reported a drop in values last month, the figure was fewer than the 73 cities that posted price declines in May.
Overall, home prices in the 100 cities surveyed were still down in June from a year earlier, by 1.9 per cent on average to 8,688 yuan per sq m.