(Yicai Global) Aug. 15 -- China’s real estate market softened again last month, ending a two-month recovery, as home sales almost halved from June and prices in second- and third-tier cities fell, with no signs yet of easier funding for developers.

Some 92.6 million square meters of residential property were sold last month, down from 181.9 million in June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed today. The value of sales slumped 46 percent to CNY969.1 billion (USD143.3 billion) from CNY1.8 trillion (USD266.1 billion).

In the seven months ended July 31, 781.8 million sqm of housing was sold, down 23 percent from a year earlier, while the value of sales tallied CNY7.6 trillion, a 29 percent slump on the year.

In first-tier cities last month, new apartments became 0.3 percent more expensive than in June, with lived-in homes 0.2 percent pricier. In second-tier cities, the cost of a new apartment was unchanged, while second-hand ones were 0.2 percent cheaper. In third-tier cities, new and lived-in apartments saw prices dip 0.3 percent each from June.

Improvement in the funding situation of the property sector is still not obvious at present, said Yan Yuejin, research director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute.

Going forward, real estate market policies will focus on how to make good use of existing loose financial policies to better improve the funding situation for developers, Yan told Yicai Global.

Homebuilders had CNY8.9 trillion of funds in place -- money that can actually be used for developments -- in the first seven months of the year, down over 25 percent on the year, the NBS data showed.

Overall, the domestic property market has been in a downturn this year, with some areas facing apartment delivery problems, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference today. But development projects close to delivery dates have remained stable with regards to construction progress, with risks generally controllable.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Peter Thomas