HOUSING sales in China in the first eight months of the year fell 10.9 percent to 3.43 trillion yuan (US$559 billion), according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics issued Saturday.

    Sales in the first seven months of the year were down 10.5 percent from a year earlier at 2.98 trillion yuan.

    Property developers across the country have been struggling with weak sales, bulging inventories and tight credit conditions since the start of the year, and some authorities, mostly at the local level, have been loosening policies to support the sluggish market. Analysts and investors are closely watching for signs of recovery in the housing market, which is an important driver of China’s economic growth.

    More than 30 local governments have loosened property restrictions such as limits on second-home purchases, but buyers are staying on the sidelines because they expect prices to fall further on rising inventories.

    Many Chinese property developers said in their first-half earnings reports that they expect to sell the bulk of their inventories in September and October, which are usually the peak months for property sales.

    New construction starts in the January-August period measured by area fell 10.5 percent to 1.14 billion square meters. This compared with a decline of 12.8 percent to 982.3 million square meters in the first seven months.

    Property investment in the first eight months of this year rose 13.2 percent to 5.90 trillion yuan, slowing down from the 13.7 percent growth in the first seven months. The investment figures are a lagging indicator, and reflect ongoing activity in projects that started last year. New construction starts grew 13.5 percent in 2013.

    The statistics bureau doesn’t give data for individual months.(SD-Agencies)