China's western municipality of Chongqing led a gradual recovery in primary home prices in December with a month-on-month increase of 17.57 per cent, but three of the 10 major cities tracked by the SCMP-Creda index suffered a decline.
"The average price of Chongqing hit a record, mainly driven by a sudden transaction rise in the main urban areas and increasing demand for upgrades from families," said Chen Sheng, the dean of consultancy China Real Estate Data Academy (Creda), the partner of the South China Morning Post for the monthly index.
The index covers 10 key cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan and Hangzhou.
New home sales in these cities jumped 23 per cent last month from November, marking the sixth consecutive monthly gain, boosted by a rash of policy relaxation measures to lift the industry out of its latest downturn.
The academy cautioned against risks from recent debt defaults by property firms.
