BEIJING - China's online property insurance premiums increased substantially in the first quarter of 2018, reversing a slight decline last year, official data showed.

Premium income from online property insurance sales jumped 30.9 percent year-on-year to 14.46 billion yuan ($2.27 billion) in the first three months, according to the Insurance Association of China. The figure dropped 1.75 percent last year.

Auto insurance premiums, which accounted for 58.16 percent of the total, grew 13.17 percent, while premiums from non-auto insurance sales online surged 41.84 percent.

Accident and health insurance and return shipping insurance were among the most popular products, while more consumers bought insurance products via mobile terminals such as apps and third-party platforms, rather than insurers' websites.

Online-only insurance companies took a larger share of the property insurance market, as 21.96 percent of the total income from premiums was earned by the country's four online-only insurers, 2.99 percentage points higher than last year.