The residential price correction has spread to nearly half of mainland cities, a downturn that is expected to ease political pressure for more cooling measures.
National Bureau of Statistics data showed the average price of new private housing fell in 34 of the 70 major cities surveyed, compared with only 17 cities in September.
Home prices in 20 major cities remained unchanged. Only 16 cities recorded property price growth last month, compared with 24 cities a month ago.
The average price of new homes in first-tier cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen began to slide last month, with prices falling 0.1, 0.3, 0.2 and 0.1 per cent from September respectively.
In financially stricken Wenzhou, the average price dropped 4.9 per cent, the sharpest fall among all the mainland cities surveyed.
'The number of cities which registered month-on-month property price declines has broadened out pretty significantly in October,' said Lee Wee Liat, regional head of the property department at Samsung Securities. During the downturn of 2008, 50 out of 70 major cities recorded price declines after the government invoked a series of cooling measures.
In the secondary market, the price correction is also obvious. Last month, average prices of second-hand homes fell in 38 of the 70 major cities. Only 25 cities recorded price declines a month earlier.