Shenzhen's average housing price in May declined to 18,998 yuan ($2,788) per square meter, which is the first time the city's housing prices dropped below 20,000 yuan per sq m since December 2009, Shanghai Securities News reported Thursday.

Housing deals in Shenzhen amounted to 136,400 square meters in May, the newspaper reported, citing official real estate market data released on Wednesday.

Total transactions from January to May dropped 60 percent year-on-year to 1.36 million sq m, the data showed.

Property prices fell to a more reasonable level after a series of hard-hitting regulations were released to restrain speculation, a local urban planning official told the newspaper.