China Home Prices Rising Again

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China home prices are quickly rising again, raising concerns that efforts to cool the market are not working.

Two new surveys show prices increasing faster in August than July. 

Prices in 288 cities rose 1.1 percent in August from July, and were 11 percent higher than a year earlier, according to E-House. The month survey of 100 cities conducted China Real Estate Index System (CREIS), an arm of property portal SouFun, found prices increased 0.92 percent in August, an 8.6 percent increase from a year earlier.

In China's 10 biggest cities average home prices rose 1.5 percent on the month and were 12 percent higher than a year ago, CREIS added.

Higher land prices are pushing home prices higher, analysts say. In July a 75,360-square-meter parcel for a luxury residential development in Beijing reportedly sold for a record price of 2.36 billion yuan.

"Continuously rising land prices have helped push up home prices," CREIS said in a statement.

Buyers may be responding to an impression that many local governments are already starting to relax restrictions and that prices will rise even higher.

"It's increasingly less likely that we'll see new tightening measures in the property market, and investors and homebuyers are returning to the market and pushing up prices because of the limited supply," Huang Zhijian, chief analyst at Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co., told China Daily.