Retail sales on the mainland continued to gain momentum, expanding 3.4 percent year on year in August, according to official figures released on Monday.

That compared with a 3.7 percent increase in the month before.

Sales of home electric appliances, furniture and office equipment recorded double-digit increase in August, Fu Linghui, a spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics said.

A package of government policies aimed at boosting domestic consumption had helped release buying power of residents, Fu added.

Value-added industrial output, meanwhile, expanded 5.2 percent year on year in August.

A breakdown of the data showed that the manufacturing sector's value-added output increased by 5.7 percent year on year last month, while that of mining grew by 5.1 percent.

The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas, water production and supply sector rose by 2.4 percent.

In the first eight months of this year, industrial output increased by 6.2 percent from the same period last year.

Fixed-asset investment grew 0.5 percent in the first eight months of the year.

Official data also showed residential housing prices in the country's 70 large and medium-sized cities continued to see narrowed year-on-year declines in August.

New home prices fell 0.3 percent in August from the previous month and 2.5 percent on an annual basis.

The surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent in August.

The figure stood at 5.2 percent the month before. (Xinhua and agencies)