BEIJING - China's housing market remained generally stable in July, with slower month-on-month growth in home prices in major cities, official data showed Friday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - rose by 0.5 percent month-on-month in July, down 0.1 percentage points from a month earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

As local authorities intensified efforts to stabilize property prices and expectations, the country's housing market has been generally stable, said Kong Peng, a senior NBS statistician

Thirty-one second-tier cities saw a month-on-month increase of 0.5 percent in new home prices, compared with a 0.9-percent rise in June, while 35 third-tier cities witnessed a month-on-month growth of 0.8 percent in new home prices, unchanged from the previous month.

Prices of resold housing in first-tier cities edged up month-on-month, though at a slower pace. Second-tier and third-tier cities both posted a 0.5-percent month-on-month increase in resold housing, remaining the same from the previous month.

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In July, local governments maintained the principle that "housing is for living in, not for speculation," and hence did not use the property market as a form of short-term stimulus to prop up the economy, said Kong Peng, a senior NBS statistician.

As local authorities intensified efforts to stabilize property prices and expectations, the country's housing market has been generally stable, Kong said.

China's investment in property development rose 3.4 percent year-on-year during the first seven months, compared with a 1.9-percent increase registered in the first half, NBS data showed.

Home prices showed some signs of cooling in July as rationality has returned to the market following the release of pent-up demand in earlier months, said Chen Xiao, an analyst with the Zhuge House Hunter, an online property platform.

Almost a dozen cities introduced tightening measures in July, tempering home price growth, said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst with real estate agency Centaline Property.

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Noting that Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has led the country in home price increases for three consecutive months on a monthly basis, Yan Yuejin, research director at E-house China R&D Institute, said some non-core second-tier cities need more measures to stabilize prices and regulate the property market.