Home prices down in most major cities in March

New home prices declined in most of 70 major Chinese cities surveyed in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.

In March, 46 cities out of the statistical pool of 70 major cities saw drops in new home prices from February, while new home prices in 16 cities remained unchanged, the NBS said.

Eight cities, up from four in February, saw gains of less than 0.2 percent in new home prices, the NBS noted.

On a year-on-year basis, 38 cities saw new home price declines in March, up from 27 in January. The March figure was the highest since September 2011, according to Ma Xiaoming, a statistician of the NBS.

Prices of resold homes stopped growing in 54 cities in March, compared with 59 cities in February.

In first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, new home prices fell further on both monthly and yearly bases in March.

NBS data showed that new home prices ceased growing in most of 70 major cities in February -- the result of the government's persistent efforts to cool the red-hot property market.

China started adopting measures to calm property prices in 2010. Those measures have included tighter lending policies, higher down payments, a ban on third-home purchases, property tax trials and the construction of low-income housing.