Home prices in 70 major Chinese cities remained generally stable, though month-on-month growth in most cities was slower, official data showed on Friday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou — increased 0.1 percent month on month in October, 0.3 percentage points lower than the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

In 31 second-tier cities, new home prices rose 0.5 percent in October from September, 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous month.

New home prices rose 0.6 percent in 35 third-tier cities in October from September and the growth pace was 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous month.

Prices of resold housing in first-tier cities edged up 0.1 percent in October from September, though the growth rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous month.

Prices of resold homes in second-tier cities also reported a rise of 0.1 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. Resold home prices were up 0.5 percent in third-tier cities, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous month.

NBS statistician Kong Peng said the real estate market had continued its steady trend in October of a slower growth in prices, as the central government has reiterated that "housing is for living in, not for speculation" and called for the implementation of a differentiated approach to property market regulation.