(Yicai) Aug. 15 -- Prices of newly built commercial residential properties in China’s four first-tier cities declined in July but at a lower pace, according to the latest official data.

New home prices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen fell 0.2 percent in July from the previous month, with the month-on-month drop narrowing from 0.1 percent in June, according to data released today by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Prices of new residential properties in Beijing remained flat last month from June, those in Shanghai rose 0.3 percent, and those in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province dropped 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

On a yearly basis, new house prices in the first-tier cities slid 1.1 percent in July, narrowing from a 1.4 percent decline the previous month, the NBS data also showed.

Shanghai saw its new home prices surge 6.1 percent in the period, while Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen experienced drops of 3.6 percent, 4.6 percent, and 2.2 percent, respectively.

The sales prices of pre-owned residential properties in first-tier cities fell 1 percent in July from the previous month, up from 0.7 percent in June, according to the NBS. On a yearly basis, they plunged 3.4 percent in the period, with the decline expanding from 3 percent a month earlier.

New home prices in second-tier cities fell 0.4 percent in July from the month before, compared with a decline of 0.2 percent in June, data from the NBS also showed. In third-tier cities, they slid 0.3 percent in the period, the same as in June.

On a yearly basis, prices of new houses in second- and third-tier cities plunged 2.8 percent and 4.2 percent last month, narrowing from 3 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, the month before.

Among China’s 70 large- and medium-sized cities, five saw year-on-year increases in new home prices in July, up from only two in June.

The sales prices of second-hand homes in both second- and third-tier cities fell 0.5 percent in July from the previous month, with the decline narrowing from 0.6 percent in June. 

Meanwhile, pre-owned home prices in second- and third-tier cities slid 5.6 percent and 6.4 percent in July from a year earlier, compared with drops of 5.8 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, the month before.

Editor: Futura Costaglione