A total of 49 Chinese cities have defied a central government order by failing to announce their property price control measures for 2011 before Friday.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development yesterday said 608 cities, or 92.5 percent of those required to outline their measures, had announced their plans as of Thursday. However, the ministry did not name the cities that failed to do so.

Beijing aims for a moderate decrease in the prices of new residential houses in 2011 and has pledged to provide more subsidized and low-income housing.

Other first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen target real estate price growth of 8 to 15 percent from last year.