China's rising home prices begin to ease

New housing prices in China’s 70 biggest cities rose 9.6% year-on-year in January, down from 9.9% in December, according to a population-weighted average released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics, Financial Times reported. It was the first slowdown in growth in 14 months. Of the 70 cities monitored by the bureau, six posted price declines from the previous month, up from just two in December. New home prices in Shanghai and Beijing rose 20.9% and 18.8% in January from a year earlier, respectively, slowing a touch from their 21.9% and 20.6% increases in December.