BEIJING: China’s new home prices rose for the fourth straight month in April but at a slower pace, official data showed on Wednesday, as government efforts to stabilise the sector lifted sentiment after the country’s abrupt exit from COVID curbs late last year.

New home prices in April edged up 0.4% month-on-month versus a 0.5% gain in March, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

April’s slower pace of home price gains, along with bearish data on Tuesday showing property investment and sales sharply falling, add to concerns over the strength of the recovery in a sector crucial to the health of China’s economy. From a year earlier, prices fell 0.2%, the 12th month of decline in annual terms.

Prices were down 0.8% in March. Beijing’s aggressive stimulus policies to the crisis-hit property sector since November have boosted sentiment over the past few months.

But uncertainty over the strength of the revival lingers amid an overall patchy economic recovery.

As part of a broader push for the economy to emerge from the pandemic, an increasing number of Chinese cities have introduced support measures or relaxed rules for first-time home buyers.

China’s property investment, sales drop sharply in April on subdued demand

Last week, China’s housing regulator issued a notice that requires local real estate brokers to reduce fees for housing transactions and leasing services to promote healthy development of the sector.

Medium-to-long term loans extended to households, mostly mortgages, dwindled by 115.6 billion yuan ($16.72 billion) in April, according to a breakdown of credit data on Thursday.