BEIJING - Prices for new residential apartments in Beijing are estimated to have dropped by 11.3 percent year on year in 2011, as the government's policies to cool the sizzling property market took hold.

The average price of a new apartment in the Chinese capital dropped to 13,173 yuan (2,091 U.S. dollars) per square meter in 2011, when about 78,000 units were sold, the Beijing Real Estate Association reported.

China's housing market slumped after the government implemented new policies in early 2011 to curb speculation, including increased deposit requirements and second-home purchase restrictions.

According to the association's report, about 90 percent of housing sales went to families who did not own any property, which suggested that the policies have squeezed out speculative capital in the market.

While tightening its grip on the commercial property market, the city boosted the construction of low-income housing projects. A total of 32,000 low-income housing units were sold in 2011, up 38.5 percent from a year earlier.