Beijing's Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said Friday that the city will tighten regulations concerning home purchases in an effort to cool the local property market.

Under the new rules, first-home buyers will need to make down payments of at least 35 percent. Second-home buyers will have to put down at least 50 percent.

Home prices have been rising in recent months in Beijing and many other Chinese cities. Newly built residential home prices jumped 3.8 percent month on month in August and soared more than one quarter from a year ago.