House prices in major cities remain stable after new government measures to curb speculation. Most potential buyers are holding back and as a result, the market cooled during the May Day holiday.

Beijing authorities have imposed a new quota system which means each family is only allowed to buy one new home. This is intended to crack down on speculation and the buying of multiple properties. The number of daily sales has shrunk by four fifths in May.

In Nanjing, not many people were looking for houses during the holiday. The number of sales has been minimal.

Property Analyst Zhu Yidong said, "Most home buyers are holding on to their money and waiting to see if prices go up or down."

In April, the central government introduced a raft of tough measures, including more restrictive down-payment requirements, higher loan rates, a ban on lending for third home purchases and tighter scrutiny of developers' finances.

As a result, property sales in major cities tumbled.

A four-day housing show closed in Shanghai on Monday. Some developers offered moderate discounts, but they didn't appeal to buyers. A local website conducted a survey and found that 90 percent of respondents said they were not planning to buy a property this year.

In Shenzhen, some developers have been forced to slash prices of newly finished homes by up to six thousand yuan per square meter due to poor sales. But even that has been unsuccessful as most home buyers in the city are betting on property prices falling in the future.