Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 9.1 percent year on year in September, the lowest growth rate so far this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

The rate was down 0.2 percentage points from the 9.3-percent increase in August, but prices were up 0.5 percent month on month, a statement on the NBS website said.

New home prices climbed 11.3 percent year on year in September, up 0.5 percent from August.

Prices for second-hand homes were up 6.2 percent from a year earlier, a rise of 0.5 percent from August.

Real estate investment continued to expand in the first three quarters, with the total standing at 3.4 trillion yuan (US$511.4 billion), up 36.4 percent from the same period in 2009, the statement said.

The property price growth rate peaked this year at 12.8 percent in April.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2010)