Growth in home prices in Chinese cities continued to slow in January, adding to signs of a cooling property sector, official data showed on February 24.

The trend emerged after local governments took measures to rein in escalating prices and banks tightened lending to property developers.

Month-on-month average growth in new home prices fell to 0.49 percent in January from 0.51 percent in December 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Of the 70 cities tracked by the bureau, 62 saw home price rise in January from December, compared with 65 cities in December.

Prices in six cities fell in January compared with the previous month, with prices in two cities remaining unchanged.

Growth in new property prices slowed in January in four major cities—Beijing, Shanghai, as well as Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, the bureau said.

New home prices in Beijing rose by 18.8 percent compared with the same period last year, the slowest year-on-year growth since August 2013.

In Shanghai, prices increased by 20.9 percent year on year, the slowest since last September.

Property prices rose by 18.9 percent in Guangzhou and by 18.2 percent in Shenzhen from a year earlier, the slowest since last July.

Liu Jianwei, a senior analyst at the bureau, said that two factors contributed to the slowdown in price growth.

First, a slew of provincial capitals have tightened property policies and increased supplies of affordable housing since November 2013, helping to stabilize market expectations.

Second, a tightened credit supply has reduced property turnover, denting prices.

Shen Jianguang, an economist in Hong Kong at Mizuho Securities Asia, said, "We see firm determination by the Chinese Government to curb the property market.

"Measures on the financial market are having an impact on the property market. We should see a turning point this year when home prices in China's first-tier cities stop rising."