Buildings in Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai. [Photo/VCG]

China's first-tier cities Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen remain the most attractive destinations for real estate development, according to National Business Daily citing a report by research institute China Index Academy on Monday.

The report, covering 297 cities at prefectural level or above, measured a city's attractiveness to investment in property development based on the market capacity and the potential in price rises.

The market capacity is assessed in terms of population, economic strength, wealth, resources, traffic and market size, while the potential in price rises includes factors such as supply, demand, price levels and market heat.

Tianjin entered the top four for the first time, followed by Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing, showing solid economic foundation, large inflow of population and robust market demand.

China's investment in real estate development grew 9.3 percent to 2.77 trillion yuan ($408 billion) in the first fourth months, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The growth was 0.2 percentage points higher than that for the January to March period.

The country's investment in property development has accelerated since the beginning of the year, boosted by a booming realty market. With demand declining as a result of a raft of measures to cool the market, investment in real estate development is likely to fall, analysts said.