Property sales fall 44% in Tianjin

TIANJIN -- Property sales fell in September in North China's Tianjin municipality as potential buyers adopted a wait-and-see attitude following a market rebound in mid 2012.

A total of 1.03 million square meters of new real estate were sold last month, down 44.4 percent year-on-year and 6.2 percent month-on-month, Tianjin's bureau of land resources and housing administration said in a statement Wednesday.

The average sales price edged up 0.4 percent year-on-year and 1.5 percent month-on-month to 10,670 yuan ($1,700), according to the statement.

Of all, housing sales fell 44.1 percent year-on-year and 5.4 percent month-on-month to 869,000 square meters in floor space. The average sales price rose 0.2 percent year-on-year and 8 percent month-on-month to 10,368 yuan, it said.

China's property market saw a rebound in summer this year after the People's Bank of China, or the central bank, cut the benchmark borrowing costs two times in June and July.

The rebound has prompted many potential buyers to wait for a while. Analysts said the prospects of the real estate market in China would be dim in October, a month that along with September is usually known for booming housing sales, as market control policies are not to be eased in the short term.