BEIJING — China continued to see a generally stable housing market in January, official data showed on Feb 21.

New home prices in four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou — edged up 0.6 percent month-on-month in January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Specifically, new home prices in Beijing and Shanghai rose 1 percent and 0.6 percent month-on-month, respectively, while prices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen each gained 0.5 percent.

A total of 31 second-tier cities saw a month-on-month increase of 0.1 percent in new home prices, while 35 third-tier cities witnessed a month-on-month decline of 0.2 percent in new home prices last month.

Like new home prices, price movements in the second-hand home market also diverged, with the first-tier cities reporting slight price increases and second- and third-tier cities registering price declines.

Prices of second-hand homes in the four first-tier cities gained 0.1 percent month-on-month, unchanged from the growth rate registered in December last year.

The NBS data also showed that in January, second-hand home prices in second-tier cities edged down 0.2 percent while those in third-tier cities decreased 0.4 percent month-on-month.

On a yearly basis, new home prices in the four first-tier cities increased 4.4 percent in January, while those in second- and third-tier cities went up 2.5 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Secondhand home prices in the four first-tier cities increased 4.1 percent in January, down from the 5.3-percent growth in December 2021, while those in second-tier increased 1 percent and those in third-tier cities dropped 0.7 percent.

"In general, home prices in 70 major cities registered narrowing month-on-month decline and slower year-on-year growth in the first month of this year," said Sheng Guoqing, a senior NBS statistician.

January's data signaled that housing prices have stopped the declining trend in the previous months and will likely increase in the future, said Yan Yuejin, research director at E-house China R&D Institute.

Over the past few years, Chinese authorities have underscored the principle of "housing is for living in, not for speculation," with a slew of measures to cool once red-hot home prices and promote the healthy development of the property sector.

China will support the property market to better cater to the reasonable demand of home buyers and adopt city-specific policies to boost the virtuous cycle and healthy development of the sector, according to the country's annual Central Economic Work Conference held in December last year.