Chinese home prices climbed to their highest levels in August, putting pressure on more local governments to introduce cooling measures to avert a housing bubble.
The average new-home prices in 70 cities rose 1.2 percent in August from July, representing the biggest increase since January 2011, when the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) started gauging real estate markets nationwide.
On an annual basis, new home prices in the 70 cities were up 9.7% last month, growing significantly faster than July’s 7.9% year-over-year increase.
New-home prices, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, rose in 64 of the 70 cities last month, compared with 51 in July, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. Only four cities reported a decline—down from 16 cities a month earlier— while average new home prices in two cities were flat.
Shanghai leads in home price inflation, with a 5.2% gain in August, compared to a 1.4% rise in July. Beijing and Guangzhou rose 3.8% and 2.1% respectively.
Several municipal governments have introduced cooling measures to rein in the overheated market. On Sunday, Hangzhou became the latest city to roll out home purchase restrictions, barring non-local residents from buying more than one apartment. The capital of Zhejiang province and host city of this year’s G20 summit registered a 23% price increase in August compared with last year.
Nanjing, Suzhou, Hefei and Xiamen introduced similar rules last month.
Write to Fang Block at fang.block@dowjones.com