BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Property prices in 70 major cities rose 9.3 percent in August year on year but were unchanged on a month-on-month basis from July, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

The year-on-year growth rate was one percentage point lower than the year-on-year growth rate in July, a statement on the NBS website said Friday.

The year-on-year growth rate was the slowest in the past eight months this year.

On a year-on-year basis, China's home prices rose 7.8 percent in December 2009, 9.8 percent in January 2010, 10.7 percent in February, 11.7 percent in March, 12.8 in April, 12.4 percent in May, 11.4 percent in June and 10.3 percent in July

New home prices rose 11.7 percent year on year in August, down 1.2 percentage points from July. New home prices in August were unchanged from July, too.

Prices of second-hand homes rose 6.2 percent year on year in August, down 0.5 percentage points from July. Prices of second-hand homes in August increased on a month-on-month basis, up 0.1 percent from July.

The Chinese government took measures in April to cool soaring home prices, including curbing lending to developers, limiting loans for third-home purchases and requiring higher down-payments for second-home purchases.