New home prices increase in August

New home prices rose in August for the first time to a level higher than a year earlier, after a slew of policy measures announced by the government helped prop up sales.

New home prices rose in 35 cities of the total 70 tracked, compared with 31 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. The rise in the number of cities that saw price increases helped push average prices 1.7 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a 0.4 percent fall in July.

Average prices rose 0.17 percent in August from July, gaining for a fourth consecutive month, according to The Wall Street Journal's calculations based on official data. That followed a 0.15 percent gain in July and a 0.16 percent increase in June. Compared with previous months, first-tier cities posted weaker gains. Home prices in Shenzhen moderated to about 5.2 percent after rapid surges in earlier months. Prices in Shanghai increased 1.6 percent over July and in Beijing by 1.3 percent.