China home prices fall 1.3% in September

Hong Kong

CHINESE home prices fell for a fifth straight month in September, wiping out a year's gains and raising expectations the government will have to add stimulus to cushion the blow to the economy.

Average home prices in 70 major Chinese cities fell 1.3 per cent last month from a year earlier, marking the first drop since November 2012, according to Reuters calculations from data published on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS).