(Yicai) Oct. 20 -- The resale housing markets of China’s four first-tier cities logged month-on-month gains for the seventh time in September, while price declines in most other major cities narrowed.

Pre-owned home prices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen edged up by an average of 0.2 percent last month, doubling from August’s 0.1 percent increase, according to data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Prices rose 0.1 percent in Beijing, 0.1 percent in Guangzhou, and 0.2 percent in Shenzhen. Shanghai recorded the strongest uptick among the 70 major cities tracked by the NBS, with prices there climbing 0.5 percent.

On an annual basis, prices across the first-tier cities dipped by an average of 1.5 percent, although the decline narrowed from August’s 2.7 percent drop. Prices fell 2.5 percent in Beijing, 2.9 percent in Guangzhou, and 1.5 percent in Shenzhen. Shanghai posted a 0.8 percent increase, becoming the first resale housing market to return to year-on-year growth.

Shanghai has ended the three-year-long nationwide trend of falling second-hand home prices, 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing Yan Yuejin, deputy director of the Shanghai-based E-House China Research and Development Institute.

The development shows the resilience of China’s property market, with higher-tier cities doing better, Yan said. With supportive policy measures continuing to be rolled out, prices may be approaching a turning point and could stop falling soon, he said.

In second-tier cities, pre-owned home prices dipped 0.2 percent in September from the month before, slowing from August’s 0.1 percent decline. In third-tier cities, prices fell 0.3 percent, the same as in the prior month. Nine out of the 70 monitored cities saw a month-on-month increase in the pre-owned home prices, six more than in August.

Year on year, prices slumped 4.5 percent in second-tier cities and 5.4 percent in third-tier cities, improving from retreats of 4.9 percent and 5.6 percent in the previous month.

The market has entered a fresh phase focused on controlling new supply, reducing existing inventory, and optimizing supply, according to NBS deputy head Mao Shengyong. More attention should be paid to indicators such as transaction volumes, inventory levels, and prices, Mao said at a press briefing, adding that based on these, the market as a whole is moving in a positive direction.

The NBS also reported that prices of new-build homes in first-tier cities edged up 0.1 percent last month from August, extending their gains for a second consecutive month. But prices fell 0.5 percent from a year earlier, compared with August’s 0.9 percent drop.

In second-tier cities, new home prices were unchanged month on month, while those in third-tier cities fell 0.2 percent. The year-on-year decline in second-tier cities was 2.4 percent and 3.9 percent in third-tier cities, better than the previous month’s falls of 5.2 percent and 5.8 percent.

Editor: Kim Taylor