China September home prices rise at record rate

China's new home prices rose in September at the fastest rate on record as buyers rushed to close contracts before new restrictive measures took effect in October.

The boom in sales and prices was evident in mortgage lending, with new housing loans to individuals totalling 475.9 billion yuan in September alone, some 76 percent higher than the same month last year, central bank official Ruan Jianhong said in a news release.

Prices in China's 70 major cities rose 11.2 percent in September from a year earlier, accelerating from a 9.2 percent increase in August, as 64 of them saw year-on-year price gains, a National Bureau of Statistics survey showed on Friday.

September's national price growth was the fastest since the series was started in 2011.

The property market, accounting for around 15 percent of gross domestic product, contributed handsomely to third quarter economic expansion of 6.7 percent.