4) New home prices across China keep rising

New home prices rose in 67 of 70 Chinese cities surveyed in June, despite government efforts to slow rampant increases and make housing more affordable, the statistics bureau said on its website Monday. New home price growth in Beijing and Shanghai picked up pace, rising 2.2 percent over a year earlier, compared with May increases of 2.1 percent in Beijing and 1.4 percent in Shanghai. The data also showed month-on-month price increases in 44 cities, indicating accelerating price growth across the country. The State Council, China's cabinet, said last week it will expand measures to curb price growth in smaller cities after tightening restrictions in larger metropolitan areas such as Beijing and Shanghai. The June data shows the difficulty of cooling the housing market in China, where negative interest rates and volatile stock markets leave investors few appealing destinations for their savings.