BEIJING — China continued to see its housing market ease in September under strengthened market regulations, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Oct 20.

New home prices in four first-tier cities stood unchanged in September from a month earlier, compared with a month-on-month growth of 0.3 percent in August, according to the NBS data.

Prices of second-hand homes in the four cities edged down 0.4 percent last month from that in August, reversing the mild month-on-month increase seen in August.

A total of 31 second-tier cities also saw no month-on-month change in new home prices, while 35 third-tier cities saw month-on-month decline of 0.2 percent in new home prices.

On a yearly basis, new home prices in the four first-tier cities increased 5.3 percent in September, while prices of second-hand homes in these regions climbed 7.7 percent from a year earlier.

The latest data came amid the country's strict housing sector regulations, which follow the principle - "housing is for living in, not for speculation."

The data on Oct 20 showed that China's over-five-year loan prime rate, a market-based benchmark lending rate on which many lenders base their mortgage rates, remained unchanged from the previous reading of 4.65 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center.