8月全国70城新房价格同比涨8.8%，涨幅为自去年10月以来最小，放缓的经济和抑制投机的政策减少了人们购房的需求。请看本报昨日的报道：

New home prices in China grew at their weakest pace in nearly a year in August as a cooling economy and existing curbs on speculative buying put a dent on overall demand.

Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities rose 8.8 percent in August from a year earlier, compared with a 9.7 percent gain in July and the weakest pace since October 2018, media calculated from official National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data Tuesday.

On a monthly basis, average new home prices rose 0.5 percent in August, less than July’s growth of 0.6 percent and the smallest increase since February. However, it still marked the 52nd straight month of gains.

报道中的put a dent就是“减少、减弱”的意思，也可以说make a dent。例如：

A vacation won’t put too big a dent in your wallet.

度个假花不了你太多钱。

It’s going to take more than a new law to make a dent in the city’s drug crime.

想要减少该城市的毒品犯罪，一条新法律是不够的。