China's home prices continued to decline in August at the same pace as the prior month, remaining a persistent drag on the world's second-largest economy.

Prices in 70 major Chinese cities dropped 0.17% in August compared with a 0.18% decline in July, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal based on National Bureau of Statistics data released Tuesday. Of the 70 cities, 49 reported month-over-month price declines.

Compared with a year earlier, home prices in these cities fell 3.3% in August, narrowing slightly from a 3.4% drop in July. Among them, 65 cities reported a year-over-year price declines in August.

For the first eight months of the year, home prices fell 3.5% on year.

China's property slump showed no sign of recovery, despite incremental government measures to ease home purchase restrictions, mortgage rules and down payment requirements.

Data released separately showed property investment fell 19.9% year-over-year in the first eight months, deepening from a 19.2% decline in the January-July period.

Home sales fell 13.1% in the January-August period, little changed from the 13.2% decline in the first seven months.

Property developers' new construction starts fell 24.8% in the January-August period, compared with a 24.0% decline in the January-July period.