Home prices down in monthly and annual terms in December
More cities saw home prices fall from a month earlier
Property sales fell at fastest pace in four months

BEIJING, Jan 17 Reuters China39;s troubled property market ended last year with the worst declines in new home prices in nearly nine years, despite government efforts to prop up the sector that was once a key driver of the world39;s second largest economy.

New home prices in December logged their steepest drop since February 2015, while property sales measured by floor area fell 23 in December from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics NBS showed on Wednesday.

At the same time, property investment by developers in December fell yearonyear at the fastest clip since at least 2000, according to Reuters calculations based on NBS data.

Overall for 2023, property investment dropped 9.6, roughly the same as the slide in 2022.

The sustained downturn in the sector that accounts for around a quarter of China39;s economy could drag on the country39;s broader recovery and heap pressure on policymakers to roll out fresh support.

The success of 2024 will largely be driven by how effective officials are in turning the property market around, Moody39;s Analytics said in a note on Wednesday.

Authorities have already tried propping up the sector with measures including increasing the central bank39;s pledged supplementary lending PSL facility in December to help fund property and infrastructure…