Property prices in the 70 major cities rose by 5.7 percent year-on-year in November. [CFP]

Shares in China's major property developers suffered a big drop yesterday after the central government announced a plan to curb soaring real estate prices in some cities.

The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.86 percent to close at 3274.460 points, with property stocks performing particularly badly.

Vanke, the country's biggest developer by market value, fell 3.39 percent to 11.39 yuan. Another industry heavyweight, Poly Real Estate Group Co, slumped 3.38 percent to 23.75 yuan, falling for the sixth day.

"The poor performance of property stocks was definitely triggered by the government's latest plan to rein in the fast-growing real estate prices in first-tier cities, but this is very unlikely to prevent house price rises next year due to the lack of detailed measures," said Carlby Xie, an associate director at Colliers' North China Division.

"I expect it may take the government two years to initiate a more detailed plan."

China's State Council, the cabinet, released a statement on Monday that revealed the government was discussing measures and policies for the healthy development of the country's real estate sector because house prices in some cities are rising so fast.

It is the latest indication of the government's growing concern over the issue. Last week, the government said it would re-impose a sales tax on homes sold within five years to curb speculative purchases.