China's August new home prices fall at fastest pace in 10 months

BEIJING, Sept 15 (Reuters) - China's new home prices fell at the fastest pace in 10 months in August, official data showed on Friday, underlining the depth of the crisis-hit property sector despite a recent flurry of support measures.

The 0.3% fall month-on-month came after a 0.2% drop in July, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data. Prices were down 0.1% from a year earlier, after a 0.1% decline in July.

China has in recent weeks delivered a raft of measures to boost home buying sentiment, including easing some borrowing rules, and relaxing home purchasing curbs in some cities.

These policies have given major cities like Beijing a boost in new home sales, but some worry they might be short-lived and could potentially dry up demand in smaller cities.

Reporting by Liangping Gao, Ella Cao and Ryan Woo Editing by Sam Holmes

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