BEIJING, Oct. 24 -- China's home prices continued to moderate in more cities in September despite easing government restrictions on the market, official data showed on Friday.

New home prices in 69 of a sample of 70 major cities showed month-on-month drops in September, compared to 68 in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

The only exception is the city of Xiamen, where home price remained flat from the previous month.

The latest data marked the fifth consecutive monthly drop, according to the NBS data.

New home prices in Beijing and Shanghai dropped by 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. For existing homes, all the 70 Chinese cities saw price drops in September, with southwestern city of Nanning registering the sharpest fall of 2 percent.

On an annual basis, home prices in 58 out of the 70 cities were lower from a year ago.

"Although home prices in the majority of cities dropped on a monthly basis, the pace of decline has narrowed," said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the NBS.