China's home prices remain stable in April

BEIJING - Home prices in 70 major Chinese cities continued to stabilize despite slight increases in April, official data showed Thursday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- increased 0.6 percent month on month in April, up from the 0.2-percent increase in March, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in a statement.

New home prices climbed 0.8 percent in 31 second-tier cities, and rose 0.5 percent in 35 third-tier cities.

As for resold homes, prices in the four first-tier cities reported a 0.4-percent growth month on month, while those in 31 second-tier cities went up 0.6 percent, narrowing from the 1.2-percent increase in March.

A total of 12 cities reported month-on-month drops of resold home prices in April, up from 10 registered in March.

Local governments kept differentiated real estate policies in April to maintain stable development of the property market, Liu Jianwei, an NBS senior statistician, noted.