(Yicai Global) May 31 -- China’s real estate market rebounded this month thanks to looser policies.

By area, property transactions in 17 major cities rose 8.8 percent in May from last month, with the annual decline narrowing to 51 percent, The Paper reported yesterday, citing data from property market researcher China Index Academy.

In first-tier cities, transactions by area slumped 31.9 percent from April and 79.7 percent from a year earlier, while that of representative second-tier cities rose 8.3 percent on April, but plunged 55.7 percent from a year ago, The Paper said. The figure for indicative third-tier cities jumped 27.2 percent from a month ago, but sank 61 percent on the year.

Property market regulations continued to be relaxed this month, supporting families with multiple children to buy homes along with tax subsidies for some buyers, said Wang Xiaoqiang, chief analyst at Zhuge Real Estate Data Research Center.

As of May 26, more than 120 Chinese cities had eased their real estate policies over 200 times this year, including 93 times in this month alone, according to incomplete figures from Zhuge Real Estate Data Research Center.

In May, the central government not only supported the unlocking of reasonable housing demand, but also brought out supportive credit policies. The market showed stable rebounds this month, sending a positive signal and exposing the effect of the loosening policies. The market showed signs of stabilizing and rebounding, sending a positive signal and exposing the effect of looser policies.

Total housing stock in seven representative cities monitored by the China Index Academy was stable in May, edging up 0.7 percent from the previous month. The figure for the southern city of Shenzhen jumped 7.1 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione