BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Property prices in 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities increased by 5.6 percent year on year in April, according to a poll released Thursday by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics.

    The prices of new residential houses gained 6.4 percent over the same period of 2005, which is 0.5 percentage points higher than in March.

    The prices of government-subsided houses rose by 5.8 percent, less expensive homes by 5.5 percent and luxury houses jumped 8.0 percent.

    Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia region in north China, reported the biggest gain in housing prices at 14.9 percent.

    It was followed by Shenzhen, of Guangdong Province in south China, at 13.6 percent, and Dalian, a coastal city in northeast Liaoning Province, at 11.1 percent.

    Shanghai is the only city where the prices of residential houses dropped. Its housing prices declined by 6.2 percent year on year.

    The prices of previously owned residential houses rallied by 5.8 percent in April. Dalian, Shenzhen, Hohhot and Beijing has the biggest gains.

    The prices of non-residential houses rose by 3.9 percent year on year in April, with the price of office space increasing by 4.1 percent, commercial properties by 4.9 percent and industrial warehousing by 1.8 percent.

    Housing prices in major Chinese cities have continued to soar in the first few months of 2006, in defiance of the central government's year-long effort to rein in the market.

    In the face of increasingly bitter public outcry, the government has ordered local governments to increase the supply of affordable housing and threatened to crackdown on speculators and others who may be manipulating the market. Enditem