BEIJING -- Home sales and property investment both slowed down in the first two months of the year, as government measures continued to put the brakes on the housing market.

Home sales in the first two months were down 14 percent year-on-year, while total value was down 20.9 percent to 414.5 billion yuan ($65.8 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Friday.

Investment in real estate increased by 27.8 percent in the first two months to 543.1 billion yuan, but the growth rate was down 0.1 percent compared to 2011. The growth rate for investment in the residential sector was down 7 percentage points, according to the NBS.

"Despite the slowdown in property sales and investment, China should continue its property curbs at this time," said Pan Jiancheng, deputy head of the China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center, a research center affiliated with the NBS.