Home prices continue declines in May

BEIJING - New home prices in several major cities fell again in May from a month earlier as the country continued its campaign to regulate the real estate market.

In May, 43 cities out of a statistical pool of 70 major cities saw drops in new home prices from April, while new home prices in 21 cities remained the same, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

Six cities, up from three in April, saw slight increases of less than 0.2 percent in new home prices last month, the NBS noted.

The sale prices of newly constructed residential buildings fell in 55 cities out of 70 in May, expanding from 46 in April this year. Fifteen cities saw sale prices increase by less than 1.4 percent year on year in May, compared with 23 cities in April.