China Vanke, the country's largest listed real estate developer, said its August sales volume nationwide rose 18.3 percent from a year earlier to 4.82 billion yuan (US$705.6 million), the smallest gain since March, reported Saturday's China Daily.

The combined sales volume of the Shenzhen-based developer increased 4.5 percent year on year to 495,000 square meters across the country.

The shares of China Vanke rose 1.73 percent to 11.17 yuan per share on Friday.

China's property market has seen price and sale hikes after February this year boosted by rising demand.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2009)