BEIJING, April 16 -- Major Chinese cities reported falling home prices in March, official data showed on Tuesday.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that 70 large and medium-sized cities saw narrowed month-on-month declines in home prices last month.

In the four first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, prices of new homes edged down 0.1 percent in March from a month ago. Meanwhile, 31 second-tier cities and 35 third-tier cities registered 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent home price declines, respectively.

Prices of resold homes fell 0.7 percent, 0.5 percent and 0.5 percent from a month ago in first, second and third-tier cities, respectively, the NBS said.

Compared to a year earlier, the 70 large and medium-sized cities in general saw price drops. In March, new home prices in first-tier cities slipped 1.5 percent from a year ago, and those in second and third-tier cities went down 2 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

For resold homes, the price in March fell 7.3 percent, 5.9 percent and 5.7 percent year on year in first, second and third-tier cities, respectively, according to the data.