New home prices in China grew at a faster pace in January, driven by red-hot demand in the country’s mega cities despite the government’s cooling measures. Average new home prices in 70 major cities increased 0.3% in January from a month earlier, versus a 0.1% gain in December, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. On a year-on-year basis, new home prices rose 3.9%, quickening from a 3.8% rise in December. China’s property market recovered quickly from the COVID-19 crisis last year, mostly in bigger cities. But the rebound has raised concerns about financial risks and policymakers have since then tightened screws on the funnelling of funds into the sector. (Reporting Liangping Gao, Lusha Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)