Beijing's commercial property sales down 49 pct

Commercial property sales in Beijing totaled 5.65 million square meters in the first nine months of this year, down 49.2 percent year on year, according to the latest data released by the local statistics authority on Monday.

Residential housing sales also slowed during the period. Sales, totalling 3.7 million square meters, fell 42.9 percent year on year, said the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

The data show that the construction area of commercial property in Beijing was about 115 million square meters during the period, down 8 percent year on year.

In mid March, authorities in Beijing unveiled a spate of measures, including higher downpayments and mortgage rates, to cool down the property market. Prior to that, prices of apartments in many residential areas had doubled since 2015.

Sales fell sharply following the controls and prices of new homes stabilized and those of second-hand homes went from rising to declining.