China's government is likely to take measures to ease property developers' funding difficulties caused by loan curbs and falling sales, the Economic Observer reported, citing a person it didn't identify.

The People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other ministries held consultations on stabilizing the property market, the Chinese-language newspaper cited the unidentified person as saying in its yesterday's edition.

A decline in property prices will erode demand and disrupt economic growth, the newspaper said, citing a National Development and Reform Commission report.

Housing sales in China dipped 0.4 percent from a year earlier to 136.6 million square meters in the first four months, the NDRC report said, according to the newspaper published from Beijing.

Home prices in 70 major cities nationwide increased 9.2 percent in May from a year earlier, the slowest pace in eight months.

(Shanghai Daily July 7, 2008)