For the first time since the government began releasing the data in 2005, housing prices in 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities fell 0.4 percent year-on-year in December.

Compared with November, property prices were down 0.5 percent, according to a joint statement issued Friday by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics.

That was only a 0.2 percent increase from the same month in 2007, presenting the lowest growth rate in the past three years.

Analysts said the price decline reflected the impact of economic slowdown on the property sector as well as the building-up of a wait-and-see attitude among home buyers in the hope for further favorable policies and price cuts.

In December, about one third of Chinese cities showed a year-on-year price drop, with southern Shenzhen leading the downward trend by an 18.1 percent dip. Housing prices in cities like Guangzhou, Nanjing and Chongqing all fell more than 5 percent.

Meanwhile, compared to November, prices in 50 cities dropped in December. Southern Guangzhou saw the largest decline which was 3.1 percent.

Statistics showed prices for newly built homes dropped 0.8 percent and older residences fell 0.1 percent over the same period in 2007.

Housing prices dipped after the country issued a series of policies to boost the domestic property market as it had been suffering from shrinking demand and investment amid the global financial crisis.