Property prices rise again

The central government's measures to cool down the property market were confronted with the recent challenge of rising housing prices in July, the eighth-consecutive month with faster growth.

Statistics provided by the China Real Estate Index System on Wednesday showed that the average price of the new homes rose 7.9 percent year-on-year in the 100 monitored cities in July, while the year-on-year growth rate in June was 7.4 percent.

Buyers choose houses at a sales room in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province. The average price of new homes in the 100 monitored cities reached 10,347 yuan ($1,688) per square meter in July. [Ou Dongqu / Xinhua ]

Average residential property prices in July were also 0.87 percent higher than in the previous month, while the month-on-month growth rate was 0.77 percent in June.

Amid the economic slowdown, consumers expect no further tightening policies from the central government for the property market. Therefore, the growth rate was faster in July, experts at the China Real Estate Index System said.

Wang Yiming, vice-president at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the property market, as an effective way to invest, will continue to play a very important role to stabilize the economy.

"The property market has been picking up gradually in the past few months. For the second half of the year, investment in the entire property industry will be kept at a steady but high level," he said.

The average price of new homes in the 100 monitored cities reached 10,347 yuan ($1,688) per square meter, higher than the average 10,258 yuan per sq m in June, the China Real Estate Index System's figures showed.