Average housing prices in 70 major Chinese cities remained steady in August as the government stepped up property curbs, data showed Saturday.

New home prices in China's four largest cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, were subdued, edging up 0.3 percent in August on a monthly basis, 0.1 percentage points higher than July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement accompanying the data.

Thirty-five third-tier cities in the survey led the price rally in the month, with new home prices up by two percent compared with the previous month, while 31 second-tier cities collectively posted a month-on-month price increase of 1.3 percent for new homes.

Prices of new homes in first-tier cities for the first eight months fell 0.1 percent year-on-year.