BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's online property insurance premiums rose significantly in the first half of 2018, picking up pace from the January-March period, official data showed.

Premium income from online property insurance sales increased 37.29 percent year on year to 32.64 billion yuan (4.79 billion U.S. dollars) in H1, according to the Insurance Association of China. The growth rate was 30.9 percent in the first quarter.

Online-only insurance companies took a larger share of the property insurance market, as 23.94 percent of the total income from premiums was earned by the country's four online-only insurers, 7.07 percentage points higher than last year.

Sixteen foreign-funded insurers posted better performance, grabbing 5.26 percent of the market, up from 3.22 percent a year ago.

Auto insurance premiums, which accounted for more than half of the total, grew 15.38 percent, while premiums from non-auto insurance sales online surged 79.35 percent.

Accident and health insurance and return shipping insurance were also popular products.