In 70 major Chinese cities house prices rose 6.3 percent in September over the same period last year and the growth rate was 0.8 percent lower than in August.

A joint report released on Wednesday by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics showed prices of newly? built residential homes rose 11.4 percent in Xiamen, 10.6 percent in Shenzhen, 10.3 percent in Beijing, 10 percent in Fuzhou, 8.9 percent in Chengdu and 8.7 percent in Guangzhou.

But housing prices in Shanghai dropped by 2.3 percent in September.

From July to September, the report said, housing prices in the 70 major cities rose 6.7 percent year on year with the growth rate in Shenzhen up 12.3 percent, Beijing 10.9 percent, Xiamen 10 percent while that of Shanghai fell 2.3 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)