China new home prices up in October

China’s new home prices edged up in October from September, increasing for a fifth consecutive month, Bloomberg reported, citing an email statement from the country’s largest property website owner. Prices rose 0.17% to US$1,405 (RMB8,768) per square meter last month, based on a survey of 100 cities by SouFun Holdings (SFUN.NYSE, OUS.FRA). The growth rate matched the previous rise in September. However, prices remain 1% lower in October than the same month last year. The increase signals that government measures to halt the economic slowdown are having an effect. Prices have been rising since June following central bank cuts in interest rates and the softening of restrictions by local authorities. “The market has quite a healthy status with modest price and sales rises … this is what the government would like to see,” said property analyst Johnson Hu at CIMB-GK Securities Research.