Dec new home prices slip 0.2 mm, fifth monthly fall
More cities report a fall in prices in Dec than Nov

BEIJING, Jan 16 Reuters China39;s new home prices fell again in December as COVID19 outbreaks hurt demand, with Beijing expected to roll out more measures to help sustain the recovery after the dismantling of pandemic curbs last month brightened the outlook.

New home prices dropped both in monthly and annual terms, with continued weak demand a constraint to a steady recovery.

Analysts say the property sector is showing signs of recovery, but it remains uneven and more supportive policies are needed to revive sentiment in the battered market.

The sector will remain sluggish in the short term, and likely to stabilise after the second quarter of the year, said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at property agency Centaline.

The market needs more policies targeting improved demand, especially in tierone cities.

Prices in December declined 0.2 monthonmonth, the fifth straight month of decline and the same pace as in November, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics NBS data released on Monday.

From a year earlier, prices fell for the eighth month in a row, dropping 1.5 from a 1.6 slump in November.

Prices in tierone cities remained unchanged from a month earlier in December from a decline of 0.2 in November.

Prices in Beijing and Shanghai rose at a slightly faster pace from a month earlier while prices in Shenzhen and Guangzhou fell at a…