The 0.2% fall month-on-month came after June's flat reading, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.
The decline in home prices comes amid a worsening debt crisis at major developers, sliding property investment and home sales.
Among 70 cities, 49 saw a fall in new home prices month-on-month in July from 38 cities the previous month.
However, most economists expect the downside trend in home sales and prices to persist for while.
"Without additional major policy easing and/or fiscal support, property sales and investment may weaken further or stay at the bottom for longer than assumed in our baseline," said Wang.
Persons:
Jason Lee, Goldman Sachs, Wang Tao, Wang, Qiaoyi Li, Liangping Gao, Ryan Woo, Sam Holmes
Organizations:
REUTERS, National Bureau of Statistics, Goldman, Asia Economics, China, UBS Investment Bank, Thomson
Locations:
Wangjing, China, BEIJING, Zhengzhou, Xian, Fuzhou