BEIJING -- New home prices ceased growing in most of 70 major Chinese cities in February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Sunday.

In February, 45 cities out of the statistical pool of 70 major cities saw drops in new home prices from January, while new home prices in 21 cities remained unchanged, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

Photo taken on Feb 9, 2012 shows a newly-built real estate project in Sanya, South China's Hainan province.?[Photo/Xinhua]

Only four cities saw gains in new home prices over the January-February period, the NBS noted.

On a year-on-year basis, 27 cities saw new home price declines in February, up from 15 in January.

Prices of resold homes ceased growing in 59 cities in February, compared with 65 cities in January.

In first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, new home and resold home prices fell or stayed flat on both monthly and yearly bases in February.

NBS data showed that new home prices in all 70 cities stopped gaining in January as a result of government persistent cooling efforts.

China started adopting measures to calm property prices since 2010. Those measures included tight credits, higher downpayments, a ban on third-home purchases, property tax trials and the construction of low-income housing.