Property prices slow down a bit

Property price growth in China's major cities slowed down 1 percentage point in June from the previous month, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said yesterday.

In a statement published on its website, the NDRC said property prices in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 8.2 percent year-on-year in June, compared with 9.2 percent in May, indicating the sector is cooling down.

The cities where new property price growth exceeded 13 percent year-on-year last month included Urumqi, Haikou, Ningbo, Beijing and Hangzhou, which saw growth rates of 20.2 percent, 18.1, 14.7, 14.3 and 13.3 percent respectively. The ranking is the same as that in May, but the growth rate for each city dropped almost 2 percent except Haikou.