Chinese home prices rise in fewer cities in July

The pace of new home prices gains in China remained at elevated levels in July, although some of the details of the data appeared to suggest that the beginning of a slowdown might be afoot, according to some analysts.

On average, new home prices in Asia´s largest economy grew at a 7.9% year-on-year pace in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, versus a gain of 7.3% in the previous month.

In comparison to June, prices were up by 0.8%, exactly the same rise as in the prior month, which in turn marked the slowest pace since April, according to Reuters.

As well, property prices rose in 51 cities, excluding government-subsidized housing, down from 55 in June and out of the total of 70 cities tracked by the government, "signalling a slight cooling off in property prices gains," Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank said in a research report sent to clients.

In parallel, prices fell in 16 of those same cities in July, up from 10 in June.

New home prices in Beijing were 1.5% higher month-on-month.

In Shanghai, new home prices increased by 1.2% over the month, while existing home prices increased by 2.0%.