CRI听力:China New Home Prices Increase in May: Survey

A report by the China Index Academy shows new home prices in China increased in May for the first time in four months.

According to the report, the average new home price in one-hundred major Chinese cities rose half of a percent last month to about 10-thousand five hundred yuan or nearly 17-hundered U.S. dollars per square meter.

Prices had been falling since February and the increase was stronger than a 0.21-percent gain in January, which came after eight straight months of declines.

On a year-on-year basis house prices fell about 3.7 percent in May, narrowing from a decline of 4.5 percent in April.

The average price in China's top 10 cities was around 19-thousand one hundred yuan per square meter, down 2.3 percent from a year ago.

Looking ahead, the academy estimates that the property market overall will show a warming trend.

However, it also notes that some cities still see inventory pressures, and that supply and demand is still tense.

With more on this, we're joined on the line by Gao Shang, analyst with Guantong Futures.