The price of housing in 35 major Chinese cities surged by 9.9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, and the price of land rose by 11.6 percent year-on-year, says a report from the National Development and Reform Commission issued Wednesday.

Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, recorded the quarter's fastest growth in housing price with a jump of 19.2 percent year-on-year. Nine cities, including Shenyang, Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Shanghai, north China's Tianjin Municipality and four other cities, experienced housing price hikes of more than 10 percent.

In the third quarter, Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, recorded the highest growth in the price of land transactions -- of 23.7 percent -- followed by Shenyang, Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Shanghai and Tianjin.

The price of land transactions went up 10.2 percent in the first three quarters over 2003.

The housing lease price rose 2.1 percent in the third quarter year-on-year. Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, recorded the highest year-on-year growth of the 35 major cities, at 9.1 percent.

During the three quarters this year, the housing price rose 9.4 percent, land transactions price up 10.2 percent, and housing lease price up 1.2 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2004)