China's housing market eases in July

China's housing market slightly eased in July, with home price increases slowing down in 70 major cities, official data showed Monday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- rose 0.4 percent month on month in July, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The growth rate is 0.3 percentage points slower than that seen in June. Prices of second-hand homes in the four cities gained 0.4 percent, down 0.3 percentage points from the growth in June.

Second-tier cities saw a month-on-month increase of 0.4 percent in new home prices, slowing down 0.1 percentage points from June.

On a year-on-year basis, new home prices in first-tier cities rose 6 percent in July, down from the 6.1-percent growth in June, while those in second-tier and third-tier cities went up 4.7 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. 

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