China's home prices rise for 3rd month

 BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- New home prices in major Chinese cities continued to rise in August, signalling a moderately warming real estate market, according to data released by the China Index Academy (CIA) Monday.

The average new home price in 100 surveyed cities rose for the third straight month to 8,738 yuan (1378 U.S. dollars) in August, an increase of 0.24 percent from July, the CIA said.

But more cities recorded declining prices in August, with new home prices rising in 63 cities on a monthly basis, down from 70 in July.

Meanwhile, more cities saw bigger month-on-month price increases in August, as only 10 cities -- compared to 22 the previous month -- recorded month-on-month price gains within 1 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, the average price for new homes in the surveyed cities dropped in August, marking nearly three years of decline.

New home prices in 10 first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai climbed 0.45 percent in August from July, but were still 1.49 percent lower than that of the same period last year, the CIA said.

Despite government control measures such as bans on third-home purchases and property tax trials introduced since 2010, home prices have picked up after the central bank raised interest rates and banks' reserve requirement ratio earlier this year to buoy¹ the slowing economy.

The Chinese government has repeatedly reiterated² its firm stance on property market control. In its latest move, Premier³ Wen Jiabao said during an inspection⁴ tour last week that the country still needs to resolutely⁵ curb⁶ speculative⁷ property investment.

1 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

2 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

3 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 resolutely   

adj.坚决地，果断地

参考例句：

• He resolutely adhered to what he had said at the meeting. 他坚持他在会上所说的话。
• He grumbles at his lot instead of resolutely facing his difficulties. 他不是果敢地去面对困难，而是抱怨自己运气不佳。

6 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

7 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。