BEIJING -- Property prices in major Chinese cities continued the downward trend in January as the government's tightening measures remain in place.

In January, 48 cities out of the statistical pool of 70 major cities saw drops in new home prices from December, while home prices in 22 cities remained unchanged, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Saturday.

On a year-on-year basis, 15 cities saw price declines in January, up from nine in December, the NBS said.