BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- 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 Thursday.

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.