Housing price in 70 major Chinese cities jumped by 10.5 percent in November, according to an official with the country's top economic planning body.

The growth rate was the largest monthly rise since July 2005 when China started to cover more cities in its monthly housing price survey.

From January to November, housing price grew by 7.3 percent year-on-year, with price of new homes jumping 7.9 percent, Cao Changqing, director of the pricing department under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said in an online interview on Thursday.

The skyrocketing housing price, driven up by speculation and growing demand, has become a major concern of common Chinese citizens.

"Despite falling sales, housing prices in parts of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen still remain high," he said.

Housing price is expected to remain stable as the macro-control policies are starting to yield results, Cao said.

In recent years, the Chinese government introduced a string of policies to cool off the red-hot real estate market, including raising the down payments for second-house to 40 percent from 20 percent.

(China Daily December 15, 2007)