Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, also increased at a faster 4.6% pace in August aided by the summer travel season, and was the quickest growth since May.
The upbeat data suggest that a flurry of recent measures including property support policies to shore up a faltering economic recovery are starting to bear fruit.
"Despite signs of stabilisation in manufacturing and related investment, the deteriorating property investment will continue to pressure economic growth," said Gary Ng, Natixis Asia Pacific senior economist.
Ng said confidence remains the root of most problems requiring larger "constructive policy and regulatory changes" to boost growth momentum.
For August, property investment extended its fall, down 19.1% year-on-year from a 17.8% slump the previous month, according to Reuters calculations based on NBS data.
Persons:
Gary Ng, Ng, Albee Zhang, Liangping Gao, Kevin Yao, Shri Navaratnam
Organizations:
REUTERS, National Bureau of Statistics, Natixis Asia Pacific, Thomson
Locations:
Wuhan, Hubei province, China, BEIJING, U.S