Home prices ticked up in China's first-tier cities in September, following a series of supportive policies introduced to ease property curbs and relax mortgage rules.

New home prices in China's four first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, rose 0.7 percent last month on a year-on-year basis, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday.

On a month-on-month basis, new home prices in the first-tier cities were flat in September, following a decline of 0.2 percent in August.

In the meantime, a broad recovery is yet to be seen. New home prices in more than half of the 70 cities surveyed, which include the four first-tier cities, maintained a downward trend in September.

NBS data showed that 45 cities reported year-on-year drops in new home prices last month, up from 44 in August.

China has stepped up policy efforts to promote the sound development of the property market over the past few months. Measures rolled out so far include cutting interest rates on existing mortgages for first-home loans and easing other mortgage rules.

The effects of the supportive policies will be unleashed gradually and produce positive impacts on the sector, NBS deputy head Sheng Laiyun said at a press conference on Wednesday.

It takes time for policies to take effect as the real estate sector is in the process of adjustment, Sheng added.

(With input from Xinhua)