China's home prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities eased in November, with fewer cities seeing a decline in home prices, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

In November, 51 out of the 70 cities saw a month-on-month drop in new home sales prices, compared with 58 in October. A total of 62 cities witnessed a decrease in resale home prices, flat with the previous month.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- edged down 0.2 percent month on month in November. The pace of decline accelerated 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, according to the data.

New home prices in 31 second-tier cities decreased 0.2 percent month on month, with the decline narrowing 0.1 percentage points from October, while 35 third-tier cities saw a month-on-month decline of 0.3 percent.

Prices of resale homes in the four first-tier cities decreased 0.4 percent month on month. The prices in second-tier and third-tier cities edged down 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent month on month, respectively, during the period.

In a year-on-year comparison, new home prices in the four first-tier cities rose 2.5 percent in November, retreating 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, while resale home prices in these cities climbed 1.2 percent.

Upholding the stance of "housing is for living in, not for speculation," China has repeatedly underlined the importance of supporting people's essential housing needs, as well as their needs for better housing.

Efforts are also underscored to make full and good use of the policy toolkit by adopting city-specific policies to shore up the property market.