Since March about 60 major cities have reportedly unveiled 170 measures that set stricter mortgage restrictions and higher down payment requirements to root out market speculation. In the most recent case, Baoding, a city 200 kilometers southwest to Beijing, announced over the weekend that owners of property to be developed on a newly released piece of land will not be allowed to sell it within 10 years.

Such measures to curb soaring house prices have been called the toughest in China's history, and the latest official data seem to prove that such tightening measures have had some effect in cooling the once red-hot market.

Of the 70 major cities surveyed, 30 recorded a lower price increase year-on-year in April, up from 24 in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.