BEIJING--Home prices in China in January held about steady from the month before while property controls dampened demand.

The average price of new homes in 70 cities fell 0.06% in January from December, excluding government-subsidized housing, according to calculations from The Wall Street Journal based on data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics. That compared with a 0.5% on-month gain in December.

Compared with the same period a year earlier, average new-home prices increased 5.4% in January, slowing from a 5.8% increase in December.

New-home prices rose in 52 of 70 cities in January from a month earlier, compared with 57 in December. Prices of new homes increased in 59 of 70 cities in January from a year earlier, compared with 61 in December.

--Dominique Fong

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2018 21:18 ET (02:18 GMT)