Most people believe that overall prices in China are too high and the level of dissatisfaction is rising, according to a report released Tuesday by the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.

The bank's price satisfaction index reading was 20 percent in the first quarter of this year, down 2 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2012, based on the central bank's survey of 20,000 residents in 50 cities nationwide.

The price level is unacceptably high, according to 62.1 percent of the surveyed respondents, up 3.6 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.

Almost 70 percent of the residents said housing prices are too high, up 0.3 percentage points from a year ago.

A survey released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics found that 66 of 70 major cities nationwide saw an increase in new home prices in February over January, with Guangzhou registering the sharpest growth of 3.1 percent.

The number of cities witnessing an upward housing price trend was 53 in January.

In two other reports released Tuesday by the central bank covering the macroeconomics index in the eyes of entrepreneurs and bankers, the index readings rebounded from the fourth quarter of last year and moved back to the level of the same period last year, showing that entrepreneurs are regaining confidence in the economy.