China home prices continue to rise

Home prices rose in 68 of 70 Chinese cities in April, according to official data, signaling that government attempts to cool the market with policy were ineffective, Bloomberg reported. The price of existing homes climbed by 11% in Beijing and 8.5% in Shanghai year-on-year in April. The biggest slowdown was in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, where prices declined by 5.7%. The measures enacted last month actually caused prices to initially rise and a decrease in price is still months off, Standard Chartered analyst Lan Shen said. Mizuho Securities Asia’s Alan Jin said the government was unlikely to issue more policy soon because the increase in price was in line with income growth.