Levies from property transactions rocketed in the first quarter despite generally sluggish growth in tax revenue, as the property market heated up, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

In the first three months, contract tax revenue jumped 38.3 percent.

Revenue from property tax went up 48.2 percent and from value-added tax by 34.7 percent, according to the ministry's taxation department.

Total tax revenue hit 2.74 trillion yuan ($444.4 billion), up 6 percent year-on-year. The growth rate retreated by 4.3 percentage points.

In the first three months before a new regulation policy was implemented, property sales revenue rocketed by 61.3 percent.