China's home prices continued to soften in November, with year-on-year declines widening across city tiers, official data showed on Monday.

Prices of newly built homes in first-tier cities fell 0.4% from October, a slightly larger drop than a month earlier. Shanghai rose 0.1%, while Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen recorded declines of 0.5%, 0.5% and 0.9%, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Dec. 15.

In second- and third-tier cities, new-home prices declined 0.3% and 0.4% month on month, with the pace of decline easing marginally from October.

Resale home prices in first-tier cities fell 1.1% from the previous month, with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen posting drops of 1.3%, 0.8%, 1.2% and 1.0% respectively. Resale prices in second- and third-tier cities each slipped 0.6%.

On a year-on-year basis, declines widened across all tiers. New-home prices in first-tier cities were down 1.2% from a year earlier, even as Shanghai rose 5.1%. Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen saw annual declines of 2.1%, 4.3% and 3.7%, while second- and third-tier cities posted drops of 2.2% and 3.5%.

Resale home prices in first-tier cities fell 5.8% year on year. In second- and third-tier cities, resale prices declined 5.6% and 5.8%.

WANG Zhonghua, chief statistician at the NBS' urban department, said prices of commercial residential properties in China’s 70 major cities were broadly lower on a monthly basis in November, while annual declines continued to widen.