The average housing rental price in August was 55.7 yuan ($8.8) per square meter a month in Beijing, down 1 percent on a month-on-month basis and up 9.6 percent from the same period last year, a housing market study showed.

In Aug 2011, average rental prices were up 12 percent year on year.

The Beijing Real Estate Association disclosed the figures based on data provided by the Beijing Construction Committee, caijing.com.cn reported on Friday.

Three major reasons were behind the fall of rental prices.

First, Beijing's transient population declined. The Beijing Statistics Bureau said that the city's transient population decreased by 600,000 people last year.

The two other reasons are the seasonal downfall of leasing periods and the drop of the CPI, according to the Beijing Real Estate Association.

The data showed that the number of transactions in the Beijing lease market in August was 131,000 units, down 5.1 percent on a month-on-month basis and down 8.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

In the Tongzhou and Changping districts and other suburban areas, the transactions decreased by around 10 percent, while in the Chaoyang and Haidian districts, the decrease was about 8 percent.