BEIJING — China’s property market remained largely stable in December with home prices edging down slightly in major cities amid tough purchase restrictions, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Jan 18.

On a monthly basis, new residential housing prices in first-tier cities stayed unchanged in December from November, and second-hand home prices went down 0.1 percent.

In contrast, the property market in second- and third-tier cities is showing signs of picking up, with new residential housing prices gaining 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, from a month earlier, NBS data showed.