(Yicai Global) Nov. 2 -- China’s property sales slowed for a second month in a row in October, indicating that potential buyers are taking a more robust wait-and-see approach, according to a new report.

Sales rose 25.2 percent to CNY1.14 trillion (USD170.5 billion) last month from a year earlier, CRIC Research Center said in a report released on Oct. 31. They jumped 29 percent in September after peaking at 30.7 percent in August. On a monthly basis, sales fell 3.9 percent last month.

CRIC Research Center’s report was based on figures from the country’s top 100 real estate developers.

The number of new homes sold in first-, second-, third- and fourth-tier cities fell 2.8 percent, 8.4 percent, and 6.8 percent, respectively, according to statistics from Beike Research Institute. In 66 cities, deal dropped 13.7 percent last month from September, with the contracted area falling 12.9 percent.

As the property market cools, the sector is not optimistic about the end of the year, said Zhang Bo, director of 58 Anjuke Institute branch. He expects the market to cool in the next two months because of tighter financial policies.

The year-end market does not look promising, and transaction recovery, if any, will be within a limited range, CRIC Research Center said. That will put more pressure on developers that typically would see booming sales at this time of the year.

Real estate companies above a designated size have a great competitive advantage. From January to September, the sales threshold for firms making the top 10 was CNY182.6 billion (USD27.3 billion), up 11.8 percent from a year ago. For those in the top 30 and 50, the cut-off level rose 13.4 percent and 10.9 percent to CNY79.6 billion and CNY47.9 billion, per data from the CRIC Research Center.

Editor: Peter Thomas