Property market defies curbs

Overall housing prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 5.8% year-on-year last month, up from a 5.6% rise in April and 5.4% in March, according to National Development and Reform Commission and National Bureau of Statistics data released Sunday. Prices for new properties climbed 6.1% year-on-year last month, slowing from a 6.4% rise in April. Several cities, including Dalian, Shenzhen and Inner Mongolia's Hohhot, registered double-digit increases on new properties last month, while only Shanghai and the northeastern city of Jinzhou dropped, by 6.2% and 0.8% respectively. The increases come despite the introduction last month of six measures to curb property prices and speculative investment.