Beijing will continue restrictions on home purchases next year, an official from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said at a press conference held by the municipal government's information office on Dec. 16.

According to statistics from the commission, new home prices in Beijing have dropped over 5 percent so far in 2011 from a year earlier now that the government's strict property cooling measures have begun paying off.

Meanwhile, the year-on-year growth rate of new home prices in the city has declined nearly 7 percentage points. New home prices in Beijing started dropping in October after remaining flat for three months. In addition, the percentage of first-time homebuyers in the city has reached 90 percent.

The commission said that the changes in major indicators of Beijing's real estate market were in line with expectations in early 2011.

The official said that the home purchase restrictions that the Beijing municipal government has implemented since the beginning of the year have produced positive results. The municipal government has basically achieved its goal of "ensuring a steady decline in home prices," and will continue to strictly implement the central government's property cooling measures to ensure the continuity and stability of the real estate control policy.

On March 29 this year, the Beijing municipal government announced its 2011 home price control goal of ensuring a steady decline compared with last year, making Beijing the first major Chinese city to set a clear goal of reducing home prices.