In the fourth quarter of 2005, house prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 6.5 percent year-on-year, the China Securities Journal reported Tuesday.

 

The figure was jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

 

The growth rate was 0.4 percent higher than that of the previous quarter, according to the statistics.

 

In December alone, the growth rate of house prices was 6.2 percent, which was 0.6 percentage point lower than that of November 2005.

 

In the fourth quarter, the prices of newly-built houses rose 7.5 percent year-on-year, 0.7 percent higher than that of the previous quarter.

 

Meanwhile, the prices of second-hand houses grew 5.8 percent year-on-year, 0.9 percent lower than that of the previous quarter.

 

During the same period, the house rent price grew 1.6 percent year-on-year, which was 0.5 percent lower than that of the previous quarter. The land trading price grew 7.9 percent year-on-year, 1.9 percent lower than that of the previous quarter.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2006)