Housing prices rise 9.3％ in August

China's urban housing price, an irritant that pits the public against the government, rose at the slight pace in August, a newspaper affiliated with the National Bureau of Statistics reported.

The China Information News said Friday that property prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 9.3 percent in August from a year earlier. The rise seems moderating after at least six months of double-digit growth. In July, the housing prices rose 10.3 percent year-on-year.

The newspaper said the August housing prices literally remained the same as July. Analysts believe that Beijing's credit-tightening measures have produced at least some results to curb the runaway Chinese property prices from exploding.

On Thursday, a top banking industry regulator warned of the risks building up in the financial sector. Liu Mingkang, Chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, was quoted by the press that serious risks could cripple the banking system.

Liu urged China's lenders to strengthen "stress tests" to appraise how vulnerable they could be to a major crash of the property industry. "We must not ignore the hidden systemic risks and dangers," Li said.