There seems to be a divergence between China's statistical result and actual consumer sentiment.

China's consumer price index (CPI) hit a 19-month high with a 3.1 percent year-on-year rise in May, surpassing the target of 3 percent annual inflation set by the government in March, the number still did not seem that extreme.

According to survey results released on Thursday by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), however, 58.9 percent of the respondents said current prices were "too high to be acceptable".

On the bright side, consumers' expectations for further increases in home prices has weakened, with 29.3 percent of the respondents expecting gains in property prices, down 10 percentage points from the first quarter.

Also, the percentage of participants who were prepared to buy homes in the next three months dropped to 15.5 percent, the second consecutive quarterly decline, according to the survey.

The survey came after home prices in the country's 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 12.4 percent year on year in May after an increase of 12.8 percent in April, a record high not seen since July 2005.