New residential buildings are erected along Maoming Road in Shanghai, which is on the list of five cities that recorded the biggest drop in housing prices last month. [Shanghai Daily]

Average property prices across 70 cities edged up 0.7 percent in February from the previous month, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a report on its Web site (www.ndrc.gov.cn).

Prices for newly constructed residential properties climbed 6.2 percent in February from a year earlier, down 0.7 percentage point from the previous month's annual rate, it said.

The gains were strongest in northeastern Dalian, Hohhot in Inner Mongolia and Southern Shenzhen where prices rose an annual 15.1 percent, 14.9 percent and 11.3 percent respectively.

Prices for second-hand residential properties increased 5.4 percent across the 70 cities, up 0.1 percentage point from January's annual rate.

China took a slew of steps last year to try to put the brakes on property inflation and cool speculative demand for real estate, including the requirement for higher downpayments and a 5.5 percent capital gains tax on homes resold within a short period.

Real estate investment in the first two months of 2006 grew 19.7 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said earlier this month.