People who bought apartments here over the past few years have seen the value of their investments slump, and they believe there is worse to come, a survey has found.

Of the 1,600 recent homebuyers polled by the Guangdong provincial research and study center, 70 percent said they think apartment prices will fall this year, with more than 17 percent anticipating a "big" drop.

In March, the average price of a new apartment in Guangzhou was 9,316 yuan ($1,330) per square meter, up 0.1 percent on February.

All the respondents bought their homes between 2004 and last year. The average price last year was 11,574 yuan per square meter.

A member of the research team said the property market is forecast to drop this year due to a number of factors, and this could force developers to reduce their prices.

The survey showed most people were cautious about buying a second property.

He Jian, who owns a property in a residential development in the Haizhu district of Guangzhou, said: "Driven by a booming economy, it was no surprise to see a big increase in property prices last year."

He bought his apartment in September for 14,000 yuan per square meter, but said he has since seen a downturn in the market.

Li Wenjiang, a manager with Hopefluent Group Holdings, said: "We are now at turning point. The price last month for an apartment was down almost 20 percent on last year.

"Developers are facing a tough time raising capital due to falling demand from buyers."

In the first quarter of this year, 8,988 apartments with a total area of 958,400 sq m were sold in Guangzhou, down more than 45 percent on the same period last year, the research center said.

Editor: Yan