Home prices rise in half of cities surveyed, but first-tier city gains weaken

New home prices rose in 35 mainland cities in August and dropped in 25 of those monitored by the government, Bloomberg reported, citing new figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. But prices rose by an average of 0.17%, a smaller margin than in July thanks to weaker gains in the first-tier cities of Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen even as increases spread to more cities. “It remains unclear how fast prices will rise in September and October, when traditionally it’s a fast season for sales,” said Wang Ruizhe, a Shanghai-based analyst with Capital Securities. “In the big picture, there is still a vast inventory overhang.”