Beijing saw housing sales plummet by 132,600 units between Feb 16, 2011 and Feb 15, 2012, compared with the same period of the previous year, the National Business Daily reported Thursday, citing figures published by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-rural Development.

The constriction was the effect of a tighter set of home purchase restrictions carried out at the start of 2011 to cool the overheated property market.

The stricter restrictions take their biggest toll on the second-hand housing sales, which have since dropped by a sharp fall of 52.9 percent to 97,661 houses.

The new restrictions continue to limit the number of houses to be bought and raise the purchase threshold for people without Beijin hukou who have to pay taxes in Beijing for five consecutive years before buying houses.

The new limits almost made rampant property speculations die away, said Zhang Dawei, director-general of Market Research Department of Centaline Beijing.