BEIJING, April 18 -- Home prices in major Chinese cities grew at a slower pace in March, with fewer cities reporting month-on-month price gains, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday.

Of a statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities, 56 cities saw month-on-month gains in new home prices in March, down from 57 in February, the NBS data showed.

For existing homes, prices increased in 42 cities month on month in March, down from 46 in the previous month, the data showed.

On the month-on-month basis, new homes in four cities saw prices decline in March while 14 cities saw drops in existing home prices, the data showed.