BEIJING, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The growth of China’s new home prices in September stalled for the first time since February 2020, official data showed on Wednesday, as the property market softened further amid a sustained crackdown on speculation. The average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities were unchanged in September month-on-month, compared with 0.2% growth in August, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Compared with a year earlier, China’s new home prices grew 3.8% in September, easing from a 4.2% increase in August. China’s property market, a key driver of economic growth, staged a robust recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic. Authorities have stepped up efforts this year to rein in the red-hot sector. (Reporting by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes and Christopher Cushing) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.