Cities lead way in house boom

China's new home prices rose in almost all cities last month, led by gains in the biggest metropolitan centres, amid expectations the government won't further tighten property market restrictions.

Prices climbed in 69 of the 70 cities the government tracked last month from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said, compared with 69 cities in June and May. The southern business centre of Guangzhou posted the biggest gain, rising 17 per cent from a year earlier. Prices in Beijing and Shanghai increased 14 per cent each. All three cities had their biggest gains since the government changed its methodology for the data in January 2011.

China will seek "stable and healthy" development of the property market, the government said on its website after a meeting led by President Xi Jinping last month. The government may release a "long-term mechanism" for stable and healthy development in about three months, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.