Prices for new housing in China grew in August at the lowest pace

Official statistics showed that 70 major cities in China saw an average increase in new home prices in August of 8.8% over the past 12 months. In July, they increased by 9.7%. Thus, price growth slowed and became the weakest since October 2018. Compared to the month before, new buildings rose by 0.5%. This figure increased at the weakest pace since February this year. A month earlier, prices rose by 0.6%. Housing in the country has been rising for 52 months. The number of cities reporting a month's decline in prices fell to 55 from 60 a month earlier. In the largest cities of China there was a monthly increase of 0.3%. The second-tier city index, which includes mostly major provincial capitals, rose 0.5 percent in a month. Third-tier cities showed a 0.7% rise in prices. Last month saw the highest growth rate of real estate investment in the last four months.