BEIJING - Home prices in major Chinese cities grew at a slower pace in March, with fewer cities reporting month-on-month price gains, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday.

Of a statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities, 56 cities saw month-on-month gains in new home prices in March, down from 57 in February, the NBS data showed.

For existing homes, prices increased in 42 cities month on month in March, down from 46 in the previous month, the data showed.

On the month-on-month basis, new homes in four cities saw prices decline in March while 14 cities saw drops in existing home prices, the data showed.

Year on year, prices of new homes increased in 69 cities last month, even though 68 of them saw the rates of growth moderating, said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the NBS.

In 58 cities, the growth rates also decelerated in the prices of existing homes in March, Liu said.

Price gains in fewer cities and a price growth moderation have come about amid sluggish property sales and an economic slowdown in the first quarter of 2014.

The NBS data showed 201.11 million square meters of property were sold in the first quarter, down 3.8 percent year on year. The sagging market also led to a slide in economic growth, which slowed to 7.4 percent in the first quarter, down from 7.7 percent in the last quarter of 2013.

Home price growth slows, further moderation eyed	Keeping the lid on housing prices