Home prices in 70 major cities expanded at a slower pace in March, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Friday.

According to the NBS, 69 out of the 70 major cities tracked by the NBS still saw rising new home prices in March compared with the same period last year, but 68 cities saw slower growth rates.

Average new home prices in the 70 cities saw 7.7 percent year-on-year growth, lower than 8.64 percent increase in February, according to the calculation based on data from the NBS by Homelink, a real estate brokerage.

The average month-on-month gains in new home prices grew by 0.22 percent in March, also lower than February's growth of 0.28 percent.

Shanghai led the new home price rise with a year-on-year growth of 15.5 percent. Beijing and Shenzhen both saw a 13 percent increase. Guangzhou's price rose by 13.4 percent.

The four first-tier cities' year-on-year growths in March were all lower than those in February.

Wenzhou, an entrepreneurial hub in East China's Zhejiang Province, is the only city which saw a year-on-year price drop in March. 

There has been a signal of a home price downturn, Zhang Xu, an analyst at Homelink, told the Global Times Friday.

The tightening of credit and homebuyers' hesitation since the end of last year contributed to the cooling of property market, according to Zhang.

The mild cooling down of home prices is positive for the real estate industry's healthy development, Chen Guoqiang, a vice chairman of China Real Estate Society, was cited by Reuters as saying Friday.

The easing trend of home price growth is expected to remain steady for the rest of this year, Hui Jianqiang, research director with real estate information provider Beijing Zhongfangyanxie Technology Service, told the Global Times Friday.

But it is very unlikely there will be home price reductions, especially in first-tier cities, he added.

Tianjin, a municipality close to Beijing, may be an exception, Hui said, citing the city's decision to stop the practice of granting non-local homebuyers household registration or hukou starting from May 31.

The previous hukou policy attracted many homebuyers because students with a Tianjin hukou can enjoy preferential conditions when attending the national college entrance examination.

Hui predicted that the city may see a drop in home sales volume and prices.