The Chinese property market rebounded in June, complicating the government’s efforts to support the slowing economy without fuelling a real estate bubble.

House prices in many big Chinese cities rose for the first time in a year, coming on the heels of measures to boost growth in the world’s second-largest economy. A sluggish real estate sector has been the biggest drag on Chinese growth, which slowed to 7.6 per cent in the first half, its weakest performance in three years.

The increase in housing prices is seen as a strong signal that the second half of the year will generate a recovery. But analysts said the fact that they were rising so soon after the recent monetary easing was worrying for the government, which has spent the past two years trying to calm the frothy real estate sector.