Developers’ Oct sales confirm China property slump

October sales figures reported by Chinese developers confirm that the mainland property market is experiencing a sharp slowdown, in part because of an extended government campaign aimed at curbing earlier sharp price rises.

China Overseas Land & Investment , the largest Chinese developer by market capitalization, said on Thursday that property sales last month totalled HK$6.8 billion, down 6.6 percent from the same month last year.

It was a relatively strong performance compared with its peers, though. Poly Real Estate said this week that October sales fell 39 percent from a year ago, the same rate of decline experienced by Agile Property Holdings .

The slump alarms market watchers, who fear even worse declines may be ahead as Beijing’s home-purchase restrictions bite.

"Early October data has been worryingly weak for the seasonally strong part of the year," ANZ’s credit-trading team wrote in a market commentary on Thursday.

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