Realty companies' confidence at three-year high

Boosted by surging housing turnover, Chinese property companies' confidence is at a three-year high. The reading of the Real Estate Managers' Index rose to 60.9 in July, its highest since 2010.

July's reading was a significant increase from the second quarter's 53.2.

The RMI, launched by the China Real Estate Information Corporation and Caijing.com, surveyed the confidence of 350 housing brokerage managers in 31 cities across China. A reading above 50 suggests expanding confidence.

The survey said more than half of property companies are planning to raise housing prices in the third quarter. Among them, 10 percent said they would significantly raise prices while more than 40 percent said they would raise prices in a narrow range.