China's national property climate index, which reflects overall conditions in the sector, rose 0.61 percent to 96.55 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said?on Monday.

It is the third consecutive month, since April, that the index has seen month-on-month growth, suggesting a rebound in the sector. The index had been falling since it peaked at 106.59 in November 2007.

Real estate investment nationwide rose by 9.9 percent in the first half from the same period last year, and the growth rate was 3.1 percentage points higher than the January-May level, said NBS.

Commercial housing sales rose 31.7 percent by acreage year-on-year in the first six months, 6.2 percentage points higher than the January-May level.

Home prices in 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities rose 0.8 percent in June from May, up for the fourth straight month, according to NBS. In Beijing, housing prices rose 0.4 percent month-on-month in June.