China's home prices continued on a downward trend in more cities in June, according to official data released on July 18.

New home prices in 55 of a sample of 70 major cities showed month-on-month drops in June, contrasted with 35 in May, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

Only eight cities saw month-on-month gains, down from 15 in the month earlier.

The average home price in the 70 cities slipped 0.47 percent from the previous month, more than the 0.15-percent fall in May, according to the NBS data.

However, on a year-on-year basis, home prices in most cities are higher than a year ago, with only Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province seeing a price drop in June.

Against this backdrop, some local governments are rushing to relax curbs on home purchases, as sluggish property sales undercut local fiscal revenue.