Urban house prices in the world’s second largest economy have raced ahead, new figures show.

Chinese cities occupy six of the top 10 rankings for annual house price growth in the year to June 2016, according to Knight Frank’s latest Global Residential Cities Index.

The six Chinese cities are Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. Fast-growing technology hub Shenzhen is in the lead with an annual growth rate of 47 per cent, although this has slowed significantly from 63 per cent last quarter. 

“Their ascension has been rapid. According to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics the average annual rate of growth for the top ten performing Chinese cities equates to 22 per cent in the year to June, a year earlier the comparable figure was -1.1 per cent for the same ten cities,” said Kate Everett-Allen, partner, international residential research at Knight Frank.

Several municipal governments in China are introducing new cooling measures at a local level, ranging from limiting non-locals to single home purchases and tightening rules for locals on second home purchases.

Of the 150 cities tracked by the index, 114 recorded positive annual price growth in the year to June. Of these, 31 cities saw price growth hit double digits.

In Europe, Budapest is on top with prices accelerating 24 per cent on an annual basis. Meanwhile, four of the continent’s top 10 performing cities are in the UK: Bristol, London, Nottingham and Birmingham.

At the other end of the spectrum, Moscow and Jaipur occupy the bottom two rankings this quarter, with prices falling 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively in the year to June. This was attributed by the property firm to the cities' sluggish economies dampening housing demand.

Other cities slipping in the rankings over the last quarter include Istanbul (third to ninth), Stockholm (sixth to 29th) and Auckland (eighth to 15th).