Half mainland city home prices go up
Prices rose in 35 of 70 cities, indicating government will not relax curbs on market
The mainland's new home prices rose last month in more cities than the previous month, indicating the government will refrain from relaxing curbs on the property market.
Prices climbed in 35 of the 70 cities the government tracks, compared with 31 in September, according to data released by the statistics bureau today.
Prices fell in 17 cities, the data showed.
"With prices rising or unchanged in the majority of the cities, the downward trend in China's home prices has been restrained," said Liu Ligang, a Hong Kong-based economist at ANZ Bank. "Buyers are now holding a wait-and-see position for the policy direction after the new generation of leadership."
The central government is unlikely to relax property curbs introduced over two years to rein in surging prices that raised concerns about affordability, after the Communist Party unveiled the new generation of leaders last week.
The measures had had a "relatively good" effect and the government would "steadfastly" enforce property controls, Housing Minister Jiang Weixin said at a press conference in Beijing last week.