More cities saw home price hikes in Feb

Almost all of China's major cities saw home price hikes in February, with the growth rate accelerating, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

Of the 70 major cities monitored, 66 saw property prices increase month-on-month, compared with 53 in January, according to the NBS. Only one city — Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province — saw a decrease in prices. The biggest increase was 3.1 percent, beating the 2.2 percent registered in January.

On an annual basis, home prices in 62 cities rose last month, compared with 53 in January. And the largest increase reached 8.2 percent, far exceeding the 4.7 percent seen in the previous month.

Major cities led the price increases year-on-year, with Guangzhou reporting an 8.1 percent hike, followed by Beijing with 5.9 percent, Shenzhen with 5.7 percent and Shanghai with 3.4 percent.

The strong rebound in the property market led to more rigorous measures from the government, which is concerned that a collapse of the real estate market may seriously hurt the economy.

The central government on March 1 said that homeowners who sell their homes will be levied an income tax as high as 20 percent on the profit they make on a transaction. Prior to the new rules, the income tax levied was 1 to 2 percent of the sale price.