China real estate showed tremendous growth in 2016 as the prices continued to surge. The rate of growth during the year was the fastest since 2011, raising the fears of a bubble. However, the growth rate stabilized in the month of December.

According to the official data by the National Bureau of Statistics, released on Wednesday, only 46 cities showed the increase in new residential house prices in the month of December. The survey studied the price trend in 70 large and medium-sized cities.

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The number of cities with growing prices was substantially lower than the previous months. The corresponding numbers for November and October were 55 and 62 respectively. The national monthly growth in the month of December stood at 0.3 percent, down from 0.6 percent growth rate in November.

The NBS data showed that new residential prices in second-tier cities grew 0.2 percent on a month over month basis, down from 0.4 percent growth shown in the month of November.

NBS statistician Liu Jianwei said, "Monthly growth in the country's 15 first-tier and major second-tier cities have slowed and house prices have stabilized as local governments' tightening measures took effect." The rationalization in the housing prices has arrived amidst a number of initiatives taken by the central and state governments to curb the unbridled increase in the prices.

Some of the measures taken by the authorities included setting up purchase limits and tightening housing credit. The country had eased the restrictions on real estate sector in 2014, leading to a massive boom in housing segment. However, China is likely to pursue more conservative policies in 2017, for providing stable base to its economy.

TagsNational Bureau of Statistics, housing prices, real estate