New home prices in nearly two thirds of major Chinese cities decreased in April as the country continues to regulate the real estate market.

In April, 43 of 70 major cities saw drops in new home prices from March, while new home prices in 24 cities remained at the same level. Only three cities, down from eight in March, saw slight increases of less than 0.2 percent last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Compared with April 2011, new home prices in 46 cities declined. But 23 cities saw the prices up by less than 1.7 percent from a year earlier.

Prices of newly built homes in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou fell further on both monthly and yearly bases in April.