Residential property prices in China rose by a record 12.8 percent in April from a year earlier, despite government measures to curb price rises and cool speculation, reported Bloomberg. The growth reported by the Chinese Bureau of Statistics, more than the increase of 11.7 percent in March, which was the highest since 2005, monitored since property prices in 70 major Chinese cities. China has taken many steps to cool property market - limited pre-sales by entrepreneurs, and loans to purchase a third home, and on May 2, lifted the minimum requirements for bank reserves for the third time this year. Recent measures have been introduced only a few weeks ago and is probably too early to judge their effectiveness, says Brian Jackson, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada. Beijing became the first Chinese city, which prohibit purchases of more than one additional family residential property this month. Perhaps other cities will limit purchases, analysts say Jan Tsinli of BOCOM International. "Prices will definitely fall this year, with between 10 and 20 percent," he predicted before the release of data. Shen Dzyanuan economist from Mizuho Securities Asia do expect that housing prices could fall by over 30% in big cities due to increased supply. "This is the last month this year, we see a rise in prices," he said. Local entrepreneurs such as Guangzhou R & F Properties and China Overseas Land & Investment has reported slow sales in April.