China's housing prices snapped a nine-month decline with a slight increase in January. Data from the China Index Academy reveals that the average price of a new home in China's top 100 major cities rose 0.2 percent from December. That was the first rise since last April.
However, prices were down 3.1 percent in January on an annual basis. Fifty-six of the 100 cities surveyed for the index showed a month on month decline in home prices in January compared to 70 cities in December.
Analysts say the market has witnessed a boost in confidence with sales demonstrating improvement thanks to mini-stimulus policies and increased demand in major cities.
However, the analysts are wary about how strong a recovery might be because many cities still face high inventory levels and signs of a pickup are mostly concentrated in big cities.