South China's Shenzhen plans to pilot a price control system next year in a bid to tame its rental housing market.

The system will cap the annual rises in rental prices at 5 percent, according to Shenzhen's Urban Planning, Land and Resources Commission.

Fu Feifei, an official with the commission, said Thursday that from next month 248 apartments in the first building subject to price controls will be available for rent by residents who do not own a house but have paid social insurance for more than one year.

The commission will initially set rents for the 248 apartments and then use experience from the pilot program to explore expanding the rental price control system to cover the whole city, Fu said at a real estate expo.

Thirty-four percent of permanent residents in Shenzhen own houses and the rest live in rented houses, including those provided by their employers.

Housing rent rises in major cities across the country this summer have attracted public backlash, with some rental platforms being accused of driving up prices.

Data from Shenzhen Real Estate Research Center showed that rental prices in the city in July rose 5.1 percent month on month and 9.6 percent year on year.