China home prices fall faster in Dec

BEIJING, Dec 31 (AFP): Falls in China's housing prices accelerated in December, a survey showed Wednesday as oversupply continued to weigh on the market and developers offered discounts to shore up their balance sheets towards the year-end.
The average price of a new home in China's 100 major cities was 10,542 yuan ($1,700) per square metre this month, down 0.44 percent from November, the independent China Index Academy said in a statement.
The decrease was faster than November's 0.38 per cent fall and marked the eighth straight month that prices have dropped, according to academy data.
On a year-on-year basis, prices fell 2.69 per cent in December, greater than the 1.57 per cent recorded last month, the statement said.
"Pressured by their annual sales targets and the need for liquidity generation, property companies continued to take the low-price strategy to promote sales, leading prices in the 100 cities to continue to fall," said the statement.