China’s home prices slumped by the largest amount for nearly two years as the government pledged to maintain curbs on property, according to the country’s biggest real-estate website owner, SouFun Holdings.

Home prices dropped 0.3 percent last month from January, according to SouFun. The month-on-month decline in February was the sixth straight drop, the longest losing streak since SouFun started tracking the data.

Residential prices slid in 72 of 100 cities tracked by the company last month, 12 more than in January, it said in an e-mailed statement today.

Home prices in the western city of Chengdu fell 1.1 percent from January, the biggest decline among China’s 10 biggest cities. Beijing dropped 0.6 percent. According to property consultant Shanghai UWin Real Estate Information Services, Shanghai new home prices plummeted 12 percent month-on-month.

Average home prices nationwide in February were only up by 0.93 percent to 8,767 yuan ($1,391) per square metre compared to the same period last year, the slowest pace of growth since August.

Zhao Zhenyi, a Shanghai-based property analyst at Yuanta Securities said: “Home prices will continue to fall in the coming months because it’s pretty clear that the central government won’t ease the tightening soon”.

The property market will remain challenging this year, though there won’t be a “collapse” as leading cities prove more resilient, according to a Citigroup Inc. report today, led by analyst Oscar Choi.

Source: Overseas Property Professional

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