Factbox - China's latest property tightening measures

(Reuters) - Beijing's land authority said on Friday it has banned the registration of "abnormally-shaped" residential spaces such as extremely small rooms, effectively blocking the sale of such properties, as policymakers seek to stem market irregularities in the red-hot market. China has intensified its crackdown on property speculators by rolling out much harsher measures in big cities, while extending curbs to nearby satellite cities in an effort to contain resurgent demand from frenzied home buyers. Recent weeks have seen the biggest wave of tightening of home purchases and lending rules since October, a sign that prices remain strong in the bigger markets as investors gamble the measures so far won't contain prices. Concerned that soaring prices could cause a nasty crash, policymakers ordered a slew of tightening measures in about 20 cities in October, although some analysts noted those measures were less severe than seen in previous cycles. Price gains slowed for months after the measures were implemented, but the market started to pick back up again last month. Official data also showed property sales unexpectedly surged in the first two months of the year. Last Friday, the Chinese capital of Beijing slapped a barrage of unprecedented measures including hiking the downpayment ratio to as high as 80 percent for second homes, a significant move that has led to multiple cities following suit. China has pledged to keep the property market stable in 2017, after a furious property boom last year that saw price gains soaring to a five-year high. The central government recently has also ramped up the rhetoric with multiple top government bodies and officials reiterating that the country would control rapid flows of bank credit to the sector to contain risks. While prices have inflated to record highs in the biggest cities, China's smaller third- and fourth- tier cities still largely face a gloomy housing glut. (Reporting by Yawen Chen and Kevin Yao in BEIJING; Editing by Randy Fabi)