BEIJING (Reuters) - China's eastern city of Nanjing announced further measures to curb its property market, the city government said on its website on Wednesday (Oct 5), just 10 days after it limited the number of homes residents could purchase.

Single adults who are residents of Nanjing will be limited to buying one property, in an attempt to close a loophole where some couples got divorced to purchase more properties, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing a statement issued by the municipal government.

In late September, the Nanjing government announced local residents who already owned two or more houses in certain districts will not be allowed to purchase new homes.

Prices of new homes in Nanjing rose 36.7 per cent from a year ago in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

China's southern megacities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen imposed new measures to cool their overheated real estate markets on Tuesday, including higher mortgage downpayments and home purchase restrictions.

A property boom has given a welcome boost to China's economy this year, fuelling demand for everything from construction materials to furniture, but a growing buying frenzy is adding to worries about ever-rising debt and risks to the banking system.

The new measures are the latest steps to tighten credit flowing into the property sector as the government tries to balance the need to prevent bubbles while stimulating economic growth.