Housing price in 70 major cities in China jumped an average of 8.2 percent in August from a year earlier, a 0.7 percentage point increase over July's growth rate, the National Development and Reform Commission said today.

Prices rose 1.4 percent on a monthly basis, the commission said on its official Website.

Housing prices for new homes jumped nine percent in August from a year earlier after gaining 8.1 percent in July, led by Beihai City in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where prices jumped 18.2 percent in the period.

Shenzhen in Guangdong Province followed Beihai to rank second with 17.6 percent growth and Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was the third fastest with 15.5 percent growth, the commission said.

Shanghai's new home prices jumped 3.7 percent in the period from a year earlier.

The average price of second-hand homes jumped 7.9 percent on a yearly basis and two percent on a monthly basis.

Shenzhen grew the fastest at 22 percent, followed by Beijing (10.6 percent) and Zhengzhou (10 percent).

Shanghai grew four percent in the month, according to the commission.

Last year, credit to developers was tightened, supervision over land use was increased and the enforcement of tax policies was improved to cool down a real estate boom.

However, these moves have not been as effective as the central government would have liked since major cities all reported rapid growth this year.

(Shanghai Daily September 12, 2007)