(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-18 08:45

The average property price in China's 70 major cities in December were up 10.5 percent from the same month of the previous year, sources with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Thursday.

The growth rate was roughly the same as the November level, the sources added.

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But prices for new apartments in those cities jumped 11.4 percent, or 0.8 percentage point lower than that of the previous month.

Housing prices in Urumqi, capital of the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Province, posted the fastest increase at 25.3 percent in December, followed by Beihai, in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with a rise of 19.3 percent.

Prices in Beijing were up 17.5 percent in December, and the prices in southwest China's Chongqing municipality were up 15.9 percent.

In December, the average price of second-hand homes in the 70 major cities was up 11.4 percent over the same period of last year and the prices of buildings for commercial use were up 7 percent.