China's residential home prices dropped for the third straight month in November amid government tightening efforts designed to cool the market, according to a report released by the China Real Estate Index System on Thursday.

The average price of residential homes across the 100 surveyed cities decreased 0.28 percent month-on-month to 8,832 yuan ($1,394) per square meter in November, the report said.

Prices declined in 57 cities in November while increasing in 43 others. Six cities registered month-on-month decreases of more than 1 percent, the report said.

With purchase limits covering more cities and credit tightened, property developers in second- and third-tier cities have started selling homes at discounts of over 20 percent, which has further pushed down average home prices, the report said.

On a year-on-year basis, residential home prices across the 100 cities rose 4.06 percent in November, down 1.15 percentage points from October, it said.

The report said the average price in 10 first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, fell 0.36 percent month-on-month to 15,663 yuan ($2,470) per square meter from October to November.

All 10 first-tier cities saw month-on-month decreases, with prices in Nanjing and Chengdu dropping by 1.2 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, the report said.

The government has repeatedly stressed its efforts to contain the runaway property market. It has adopted multiple measures to cool prices, including tighter monetary policies, higher down payments, a ban on third-home purchases, price control targets and a trial property tax.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2011)