They included Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan in Shandong province, Hefei in Anhui province, Zhengzhou in Henan province, Suzhou and Wuxi in Jiangsu province, Wuhan in Hubei province, and Chengdu in Sichuan province. Shenzhen joined in on Tuesday, followed by Guangzhou and Foshan on the same day.

Shenzhen's latest curbs are seen as an upgrade of those rolled out half a year ago. Under the new policy, families with no property in the city, but with a previous loan record are required to make a down payment of no less than 50 percent of a property's price. Under the old policy, non-property families with a loan record within the previous two years were able to enjoy a down payment ratio of 40 percent, while for those with no loan record within the previous two years, the down payment could be reduced to 30 percent.

Residents without a local household registration, or hu-kou, can only buy one property after having paid taxes or social security in the city for five consecutive years - up from three years previously.

"The new restrictions are the strictest in Shenzhen's history," said Song Ding, director of the Tourism and Real Estate Industry Research Center at Shenzhen-based think tank China Development Institute.

"The simultaneous clampdown by such a large number of cities shows that the leadership is determined to take the heat off the property market in those hotspots," he said.

Wang Fei, director of Centaline Property Research Center in Shenzhen, said areas with a high proportion of investors and speculators are expected to see price decreases first as transactions decline further after the new policy is implemented. The situation may then spread to other areas, leading to an overall price downslide in the city if transactions remain at a low level in the coming months.

According to official statistics, a total of 2,618 new homes were sold in Shenzhen last month - down 35.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago. However, average new homes prices surged more than 70 percent year-on-year to 61,600 yuan ($9,200) per square meter last month.

Some analysts, on the other hand, expect the latest restrictions to further lift demand for apartments in cities around Shenzhen, where homes prices have already seen drastic growth, with more people in a rush to buy flats.

Zhang Qian, chief researcher of data research center at real-estate agency Qfang.com, however, begged to differ.

"According to the latest policy, Shenzhen residents need to pay a down payment of 50 percent as long as they have loan record. In such a case, many would prefer to adopt a more cautious attitude when buying properties in other cities," she said.

"Moreover, most of the buyers in Dongguan and Huizhou are investors from Shenzhen. Now that sentiment has been dampened, they're likely to hold off instead of continuing to invest."

sally@chinadailyhk.com