Sales of commercial housing totaled 277.43 million square meters nationwide in the first seven months of this year, down 10.8 percent on last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Thursday.

Sales of existing homes declined 17.8 percent year-on-year and forward delivery homes, 8.2 percent year-on-year.

The shrinking property market has caused a blow to developers' confidence in purchasing land. They bought 219.74 million square meters of land during the January-July period, up 5.2 percent year on year, while the growth rate declined 6.7 percent year-on-year. Land purchased in July dipped by 27.7 percent month-on-month.

Completed property amounted to 147.67 million square meters during the first seven months, 4.2 percent higher than last year. Yet area of both completed and newly-constructed property plummeted by 35.7 percent in July.

Investment in the real estate sector totaled 1.59 trillion yuan ($232.61 million) during the first seven months, up 30.9 percent year on year. Of that amount, 1.15 trillion yuan was invested on residential housing, up 33.7 percent, 53.4 billion yuan on office buildings, up 0.7 percent, 160.3 billion yuan on operational housing, up 19.2 percent and 226 billion yuan on others, up 35.7 percent.

The growth of property investment slowed in eastern China, accelerated in the center and fell in the west.

(China Daily August 30, 2008)