New home prices rose steeply in more Chinese cities in February, putting the government in an increasingly complex situation of regulating the bubble-ridden market.

Of a statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities monitored by the National Bureau of Statistics, 66 saw home prices increase within 3.1 percent in February from a month earlier, while three saw prices remain unchanged and only one reported price falls.

Newly built commercial housing prices in Beijing and Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, saw the largest increase of 3.1 percent on a month-on-month basis, followed by Shanghai and Shenzhen with price hikes of 2.3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

Zhang Dawei, director of Centaline Property's research center, attributed the growth to panicky homebuyers driven into hurried purchases by worries that prices may rise further following the recent gaining streak.