China's October property prices steady

A government survey of new home prices in 70 Chinese cities showed that prices have stayed flat in October compared to the previous month, The Wall Street Journal reported. The National Bureau of Statistics published figures on Sunday which showed prices are unchanged for the second month in a row despite the numbers of housing deals going up in recent months. The price of new-builds in 50% of the cities surveyed were higher in October than September, whereas 44% were higher in September than in August. Year-on-year comparisons show that new-build prices were down in 80% of the cities in October and 79% in September. In large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, prices were up slightly in October month-on-month. The stabilizing prices show that the pace of a market rebound that started in June is slowing.