The prices of new houses in China's first-tier cities increased 0.1% in March, unchanged compared with the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

New home prices in Shanghai rose 0.7%, while those in Beijing jumped 0.2% and Shenzhen and Guangzhou each increased 0.1%, NBS Urban Department Chief Statistician Wang Zhonghua said.

Newly-built houses in second-tier cities stayed unchanged from the previous month while those in third-tier cities declined 0.2% month on month, the NBS said.

Overall, new home prices stayed flat month on month and declined 4.5% year over year, Reuters reported, citing calculations from NBS data.