Chinese Housing Price Declines Accelerated in August

(Bloomberg) — Housing prices in China dropped at a faster pace in August, underscoring why policymakers stepped up efforts at the end of month to address a slowdown that’s weighing on the world’s second-largest economy.

New-home prices in 70 cities, excluding state-subsidized housing, declined 0.29% last month from July, when they fell 0.23%, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed Friday. Other official data showed that property investment and residential sales remained weak, even as economic activity picked up.