Chinese housing market boom accelerates in August

China's efforts to cool its housing market are failing to have much effect, with a 33% annual rise in the value of new home sales in August.

The National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday that prices of new homes increased in 64 of the 70 tracked cities, up from 51 the month before.

New home prices were down in four of the 70 cities, compared to 16 in July, with two cities seeing prices flat compared to three last time.

Prices for existing apartments were up in 57 from 51 last time, down in nine cities from 12 last month, and flat in four compared to seven.

Average house prices increased 1.2% on the previous month's data, according to calculations by Bloomberg, which was the biggest monthly rise since the start of 2010.

Beijing has extended lending curbs from major cities into some larger regional centres to try and dampen down growth to more reasonable levels.

A note from Commerzbank's Singapore office said: “The overall monetary policy should remain accommodative as inflation remains subdued and growth is still trending down. However, concern about an asset bubble will limit room for further easing.”