New houses prices in 100 cities edged higher for the first time in four months in May, according to independent research, fueled by a string of policy-easing measures and a flood of investors pulling their cash out of the turbulent stock market.

Overall prices rose 0.45 percent month-on-month to 10,569 yuan ($1,700) per square meter, after a 0.01 percent contraction in April, said the China Index Academy, the research unit of SouFun Holdings Ltd.

Apart from a slight uptick in January, the new-prices index has been declining for the past 12 months. On year-on-year basis, however, May prices contracted 3.73 percent.