China new home prices fall at the fastest pace since 2015

China home prices: China's new home prices fell at the fastest pace since May 2015, official data showed on Friday, despite increased efforts to revive the struggling property sector.

In annual terms, new home prices were down 5.8 per cent from a year earlier, deeper than a 5.3 per cent slide in August, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

New home prices were down for the 15th consecutive month, falling 0.7 per cent month-on-month in September, matching a dip in August.

In recent weeks, China has introduced supportive measures, including lower mortgage rates, and eased home purchase restrictions, which have spurred some demand in major cities.

On Thursday, the housing authority announced plans to expand the "white list" of eligible housing projects and increase bank lending to 4 trillion yuan by year-end, in a bid to stabilise the ailing real estate sector.