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.