New home prices in China's 70 major cities decreased by 3.5% year over year in May, according to Trading Economics' calculation of data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The reading steadied from the 3.5% contraction recorded in the previous month, and was sharper than the Trading Economics forecast of a 3.4% drop.

On a month-over-month basis, average new home prices edged down 0.10%, softer than the 0.2% drop the previous month.