House prices in tier-one cities increased slightly month-on-month in January, and the rate of price decreases in tier-two and three cities slowed, according to the Securities Daily. The paper said the improvement in data recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed recent measures taken in some regions, such as lowering the interest rate for first time homeowners before the Spring Festival, was having positive results, but more demand-side policy was needed for the market to recover. Daily transactions in February of secondhand houses were up by 1% on average compared with January, indicating further momentum in the recovery, the paper said.