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.

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, the NBS said.