House prices in China continued to rally in August, extending momentum for the 15th straight month.
The average price of new houses in 100 cities climbed 0.92 percent from July to 10,442 yuan ($1,703) per square meter, the China Index Academy said yesterday. That compared to a growth of 0.87 percent in July and June.s 0.77 percent rise.
The number of cities that registered monthly price increases rose from 61 to 71. Of those, 31 saw growth of more than 1 percent. Fuzhou in the southeastern Fujian Province led last month.s gainers with a 3.92 percent rise.
There were price drops in 29 cities, with Wuhu in east China.s Anhui Province suffering the biggest retreat of 2.29 percent.
In the 10 largest cities, the average price of a new home rose 1.49 percent to 17,871 yuan per square meter last month, accelerating from its growth of 1.34 percent in July and June.s 1.01 percent.
Beijing continued to lead the first-tier cities with a rise of 3.22 percent, followed by Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, which saw increases of 1.68 percent, 1.34 percent and 1.07 percent, respectively, the academy said.
.However,. it added, .with an expected increase in new home supply over the coming two months as the market has entered its traditional high season for property sales, we will see rather mild price increases in most of the Chinese cities except for those that have remained undersupplied..
In Shanghai, new home sales saw double-digit growth to exceed 900,000 square meters in August with the average price down more than 5 percent from July amid weaker demand for high-end properties, according to a separate report.
Purchases of new residential properties, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, jumped 16.4 percent from July to 904,200 square meters, data released by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co showed.
The average cost of new homes, however, fell 5.4 percent to 23,348 yuan a square meter, the lowest in three months.
.New home transactions in Shanghai will very likely exceed the 1 million threshold again in both September and October as demand from first-time buyers remainrobust,. said Huang Zhijian, Uwin.s chief analyst.
Across the city, the top three best-selling residential projects in August cost no more than 18,000 yuan per square meter, Uwin data showed.
