China August property sales up 27% year on year

In 30 major cities, August property sales by floor space increased 27% year-on-year to 22.9 million square meters, according to the Shanghai-based E-House China R&D Institute, Caixin reports. And in 100 major cities tracked by the China Index Academy, a housing market research agency, the average price in August for a newly built apartment jumped 13.8% from a year earlier. August floor-space sales were up 9%, and apartment prices rose 2.2% from July levels. A China National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report said home sales in monetary terms rose 42% between January and July compared with the same period in 2015. NBS also said most big and medium-sized cities saw new-home prices rise every month this year through July.