(Yicai Global) Feb. 26 -- The managers confidence sub-index of the National Building Materials Home Prosperity Index, which reflects demand in China's real estate market, fell last month to the lowest level since 2012, reflecting the huge impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic.

The sentiment gauge dropped to 21 in January, according to data released by the China Building Materials Circulation Association on its website today. The 50 mark is the dividing line between optimism and pessimism.

With the Covid-19 virus's continuous impact on the real estate, building materials and home furnishings markets, huge losses are anticipated this month, which will show up in February's BHI, the CBMCA said.

Building materials suppliers and household appliance stores saw CNY60.22 billion (USD8.6 billion) in sales, a 33.6 percent fall from the previous month and down 2.4 percent year-on-year, per the data. The BHI was 78.6 in January, down 20.7 points from the previous month and up 4.63 points from the same period last year.

The CBMCA and the commerce ministry compile the BHI with data from 50,000 merchants across the country. The BHI reflects the prosperity and market trend of the industry and demand in the real estate market.

The epidemic did not affect last month's BHI much since the first two months of the year are a traditional low season for the industry due to the Chinese New Year holiday, the CBMCA's Industry Research Department said.

The holiday started on Jan. 23 this year, and the average number of operating days of most building materials and home furnishing outlets stood at about 20 days last month. Sales at stores above a designated size fell 33.6 percent in January, which is reasonable. The impact of the epidemic will be reflected in this month's BHI data.

Editor: Peter Thomas