Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 9.2 percent year-on-year in May, compared with 10.1 percent growth in April, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.

In a statement published on its website, the central government's economic planning agency said the prices of new residential properties rose 10.2 percent year-on-year in May, down 0.6 percentage point from April's growth rate.

The cities where property price growth exceeded 15 percent year-on-year last month included Urumqi, Haikou, Ningbo, Beijing and Hangzhou with growth rates of 22.8 percent, 17.6 percent, 16.6 percent, 15.7 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively.

Prices of resale homes rose 8.8 percent year-on-year, 1.5 percentage point below the April growth rate.

Non-residential property prices grew 6.5 percent, down 0.4 percentage point from April.