China’s home prices fell for the first time in six years in September amid a home sales slump and developer debt crises, casting shadows on the country’s weakening economic growth. China’s average new home price in 70 cities slightly declined in September compared with a month earlier, and the year-on-year increase continued to slow, Sheng Guoqing, the chief statistician of China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said on Oct. 20. The monthly drop is either 0.08 percent, or 0.1 percent, based on the formula analysts used. It marks the first decline since May 2015, in contrast to the 0.2 percent increase in August. “It’s obvious that the housing market has entered a downward cycle,” said Yan Yuejin, research director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute, according to state-backed National Business Daily. The latest data showed 27 out of 70 cities reported new home prices increased last month, down …