The average housing prices for newly-built apartments in China's 70 major cities rose 5.8 percent year-on-year in November, sources with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Wednesday.

 

Housing prices in Fuzhou, capital city of southeastern Fujian Province, posted the fastest increase of 10.4 percent in November, followed by Beijing with a rise of 10.3 percent.

 

Housing prices in coastal cities including Shenzhen, Xiamen and Qinhuangdao also posted an increase of over 9 percent.

 

Shanghai is the only city that witnessed a slight drop of 0.1 percent in housing prices in November. Real estate prices in Shanghai have been in decline since last December.

 

Housing prices in Beijing again rose by double-digits for the sixth successive month.

 

In November, the average prices of second-hand houses in the 70 cities rose by 5.2 percent over the same period of last year and the prices of commercial buildings increased 4 percent year-on-year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2006)