(Yicai Global) Dec. 17 -- New home prices remained stable or increased slightly in 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities last month. Secondhand sales market logged larger declines.

Sales prices of new residential houses in major four first-tier cities rose slightly by 0.3 percent in total, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Dec. 15. Prices in Beijing climbed 0.6 percent, as well as those in Shanghai gained 0.5 percent while those in Guangzhou were flat. Such prices fell 0.2 percent in Shenzhen. 

Some 63 cities logged rising prices in new homes. The biggest increase was 4.2 percent in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China. Besides Guangzhou, prices remained flat in Ningbo.

In addition to the first-tier city of Shenzhen, prices in four lower-tier cities dropped, namely Tianjin, Jinhua, Xiamen and Wenzhou. The biggest drop was 0.5 percent in the second-tier city of Xiamen. 

It is expected that more cities will see bigger price declines in the next few months and new home prices in some cities will gradually begin to fall, real estate agency Leju Holding reported, citing Zhang Dawei, a chief analyst of Centaline Property Agency.

Sales prices of secondhand homes decreased 0.4 percent from October. 

Editor: Emmi Laine