Prices were flat in Quanzhou of Fujian Province while Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province was the only city to register a monthly fall. New home prices in Shanghai climbed 3.2 percent from the previous month, the fastest rise across the country. It was followed by Shenzhen, Beijing and Guangzhou, where prices rose 2.8 percent, 2.7 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

In February, Beijing and Guangzhou recorded the largest growth of 3.1 percent. And in January, Shenzhen was top with a 2.2 percent gain. Year on year, new home prices rose in 67 of the 70 cities, with a top increase of 11.2 percent. That compared to 62 in February, when the largest rise was 8.2 percent.

"On one hand, March is the traditional high season for home purchases in China, when buying sentiment usually picks up notably," said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the bureau. 
"On the other hand, as home seekers across the country rushed to close deals before local governments start to implement more tightening measures, real estate developers have either canceled discounts or raised prices which also helped boost prices."

On March 1, the State Council, China's Cabinet, announced an array of new measures aimed at reining in property speculation. These included the tough enforcement of a 20-percent capital gains tax, which triggered panic in the market.

For this month, Liu said he expects home prices across the country to stabilize as local governments continue to strictly implement property curbs. These include home purchase restrictions and differentiated mortgage policies. Data released earlier by the bureau showed that new home purchases in China, by both value and volume, grew slower in the first quarter as a whole, compared to the first two months of the year, indicating a retreat in sentiment.

Meanwhile, in the existing home market, 66 cities registered month-over-month price increases in March, unchanged from February. The number of cities where prices gained from a year earlier rose from 49 in February to 59 last month, according to the bureau.

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