Home prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 0.3 percent month on month in December and 6.4 percent year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The annualized growth rate dropped from 7.7 percent in November, making December the eighth consecutive month of slowing growth from a peak of 12.8 percent in April last year, when the government stepped up controls to curb prices.

New home prices climbed 7.6 percent year on year last month and 0.3 percent month on month, while prices for second-hand homes rose 5 percent year on year and 0.5 percent month on month, said a statement on the NBS website.

Property sales volume, in terms of floor space, was up 11.5 percent from a year earlier to 218.08 million square meters last month, and the value of sales rose 21.9 percent to more than 1.02 trillion yuan (about US$155 billion).

Property sales for the whole of last year surged 10.1 percent year on year to 1.04 billion square meters, and the sales value was up 18.3 percent to 5.25 trillion yuan, it said.

Property investment last year jumped 33.2 percent year on year to 4.83 trillion yuan. In December alone, 557 billion yuan was invested in the real estate sector, up 12 percent year on year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2011)