China's new home prices saw the fastest rise in 22 months in July, shrugging off Beijing's continued efforts to cool the real estate market down.

Average new home prices in China's 70 major cities increased 1.2% in July from a month earlier, according to Bloomberg News calculations based on figures released Aug. 15 by China's National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS.

As many as 65 cities out of 70 major tracked Chinese cities experienced a month-over-month gain in new home prices in July, up from 63 cities that saw a climb in June. Prices were flat in two cities and slipped in three for the reporting month.

Strong sales in small cities have been driving the national home price rally, according to the NBS data. The average price of new homes in 35 third-tier cities in the survey expanded 1.5% in the month, while second-tier cities recorded an average 1.1% gain over the previous month.

Home prices were subdued in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China's four biggest cities, rising only 0.2% from the previous month.