PRICES of new residential apartments in Beijing may have dropped by 11.3 percent annually in 2011, as the government's policies to cool the sizzling property market took hold.

The average price of new apartments in the Chinese capital fell to 13,173 yuan (US$2,091) per square meter last year, when about 78,000 units were sold, the Beijing Real Estate Association said.

The decline means that Beijing fulfilled its 2011 goal of ensuring that housing prices remain steady or fall, said Chen Zhi, secretary-general of the association.

China's housing market slumped after the government implemented new policies in early 2011 to curb speculation, including increased deposit requirements and second-home purchase curbs.

The association's report said about 90 percent of housing sales went to families who did not own any property, which indicated that the policies have squeezed out speculative capital in the market.

While tightening its grip on the commercial property market, the city boosted the construction of low-income housing projects. A total of 32,000 low-income housing units were sold in 2011, up 38.5 percent from a year earlier.