BEIJING -- More Chinese cities saw home prices rise in July from June as signs of warming have emerged in China's property market after some local governments relaxed their property curbs in the wake of weakening local economies.

In July, 50 cities, drastically up from 25 in June, out of a statistical pool of 70 major cities recorded higher new home prices than a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday.

Compared with June, nine cities saw declines in new home prices last month, down from 21 in June, while prices in 11 cities remained unchanged, according to the NBS data.

However, on a year-on-year basis, new home prices still continued a downward trend with 58 out of the 70 cities witnessed price declines in July, expanding from 57 in June.

New home prices in 11 cities rose in July from a year earlier by less than one percent, while one city saw its new home prices remain the same compared with one year ago.

China has tightened its curbs on the property sector since 2010 in an effort to bring the rocketing home prices back to a reasonable level.

The government has restricted home purchases in several cities while requiring higher down payments and introducing property taxes.