The real estate market continues to lose strength as reflected by nationwide home price declines.

In November 49 out of 70 monitored major cities reported month-on-month drops in prices of new residences, up from 34 in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, only five cities experienced price increases, compared with 16 in the previousmonth. Prices stayed unchanged in 16 cities.

As for second-hand homes, prices fell in 51 cities in November, increasing from 38 in October. Only seven cities saw their prices increase.

At the recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference, policymakers pledged to bring home prices back to a reasonable level. Many cities including Beijing have announced to continue with purchase restrictions in 2012.

Meanwhile, property developers have felt the pinch of market gloom as their sales plunged. Sales of China Vanke Co. Ltd., the nation's largest developer by market value, nose-dived 36 percent year on year to reach 8.29 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) in November, the lowest in seven months.

In a recent report Credit Suisse predicted China's house prices will decline 20 percent from their 2011 peak through the end of 2012, with transactions of the remainder of the period to be subdued.

"The economy would have to worsen significantly to force a loosening of policy towards the property sector. In such an event, underlying conditions would likely be so bad at that point that any boost to homebuyer confidence would be limited," it added.