BEIJING: China’s new home prices rose in January at the fastest monthly pace since August 2021, buoyed by a slew of government support measures, according to a survey released on Thursday.

Average prices across 100 cities rose for a fifth consecutive month, with the January month-on-month gain of 0.15% outpacing the 0.1% increase in December, according to Chinese real estate research firm China Index Academy.

The number of cities with month-on-month price growth was 49, up from 47 in December.

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The world’s second-largest economy has introduced a series of policies over the past year to help revive the property industry, which has been hit by an unprecedented debt crisis after a regulatory crackdown on the sector’s high leverage.

This week, two more major Chinese cities have eased home-buying curbs and a state-backed property project received the first development loan under a so-called whitelist mechanism, according to reports in state media.