High-end residential market in Beijing experienced downturn in sales volume and price in the first quarter, fresh evidence of slowdown of the red-hot housing market, said the world's leading real estate consulting company DTZ.

At the beginning of 2014, affected by the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday and tightening credit, there was a decrease in both transaction volume and average price in the Beijing high-end residential market, the company said in a latest report.

The average high-end housing price in Beijing dropped by 5.45 percent quarter on quarter to 49,287.77 yuan (about $8,014 ) per square meter in the first quarter, but still represented an increase of 13.26 percent year on year, according to data from DTZ.

The high-end housing transaction volume in Beijing plunged by 23.85 percent quarter on quarter in the first three months, to reach 181,904.01 square meters, a decrease of 17.88 percent year-on-year.

Across the country, China's property market has been showing signs of cooling down in recent months.