Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

In the first seven months of this year, Chinese housing prices reached an average of 2,724 yuan (US$328) per square meter. That is an increase of 12.9 percent from the same period last year, which constitutes the largest rise since 1996, eastday.com reported today.
According to the National Statistics Bureau, from January to July, 12 cities and provinces saw average housing prices increasing by more than 10 percent. Six cities and provinces including Jiangxi Province, Gansu Province and Tianjin registered house prices rising by more than 20 percent.
Residential property price reached an average of 2,480 yuan per square meter, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier; average office space price increased by 32.3 percent; business space cost rose by 14.9 percent from the previous year.
Vacant property space stood at 96.78 million square meters in China at the end of last month, down 0.8 percent from the year before, with 58.6 percent remaining vacant for more than one year.
Twelve cities and provinces, such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Hubei Province, saw their vacant property space on the decline, with unsold properties in Shanghai down 37.7 percent from a year before, the largest drop nationwide.