(Yicai) Aug. 1 -- Home sales by China’s leading 100 property developers slumped by a third last month compared with a year earlier, according to data from China Real Estate Information.

The developers sold CNY350.4 billion (USD48.9 billion) worth of properties in July, down 33.5 percent from June and 33.1 percent from a year ago, CRIC data showed yesterday.

In the first seven months of the year, their sales fell 4.7 percent from a year earlier, turning positive growth in the first six months into a decline, the data also showed.

July is traditionally an off-season for home sales in China, given the summer’s high temperatures and typhoons. But last month’s sales experienced a “cliff-like drop,” according to a staffer at one of the top 20 builders. Overall, the market has recovered more slowly than expected this year, an employee at another real estate firm said.

Only 10 of the top 50 developers, such as C&D Real Estate, Yuexiu Property, and Poly Developments and Holdings Group, saw sales rise last month, with growth rates varying from 10 percent to 90 percent, according to statistics from EH Consulting.

About 60 percent of China’s top 50 builders, including China Vanke, Country Garden Holdings, and Longfor Group Holdings, reported declines of over 50 percent in July, EH Consulting data showed.

The property market weakened a lot last month, a source at a builder in eastern China told Yicai. Potential buyers visiting its homes in Changsha, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou fell 20 percent in July from June, and orders almost halved, the person noted.

Developers are still lowering prices to promote sales, the source said, adding that the tactic is particularly needed in Hefei and Nanchang, where the company can only sell properties after cutting prices.

Market Boosters

At the end of last month, regulators said the relationship between supply and demand in the real estate market had significantly changed. Since then, many insiders have been adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development expressed its support for lower mortgage interest rates and discounts on rates to people who sell their only home to buy a new one, stoking expectations for new policies targeting the property market. But nothing has appeared yet.

Market participants are still looking forward to policy support. An insider from a large intermediary company said they believe the market will respond if there are enough favorable policies.

Policy loosening and stimulus may increase in the future, and the overall scale of new home transactions is expected to stop falling and rebound, CRIC noted. But a V-shape recovery would be hard, given weak purchasing power, it added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione