Editor's note: This is the third in a series of four reports examining China's property market. The article was written by Mark South based on reports from Liu Jie in Beijing, Li Jian and Cheng Feng in Shanghai,  Li Wenfang in Guangzhou and Chen Hong in Shenzhen.

In recent years, the property market has been as bankable as any sector in China's surging economy.

Developers, homeowners and investors have all seen their equity rise and the resulting white-hot market has sparked an explosion in real estate agents.

But with the government tightening credit, tax and property development regulations to stave off the twin threats of over investment and oversupply, developers and investors are not the only ones feeling the pinch.

Real estate agencies, previously coasting in a sector that saw nowhere to go but up, are facing a slump  just one consequence of consumer uncertainty and the anticipation of further government measures.

In Shanghai, the Centaline agency saw new residential property sales fall 31 per cent from May to June.

At the same time, the company says, sales of second-hand housing, affected by a newly imposed tax on the sale of properties less than five years old, fell 40 per cent.

Fellow market leader Shanghai HanYu has forecast a 30 per cent fall in sales of second-hand housing during July.

Elsewhere in the country it has been a similar story.

In Beijing, the Sunco agency, which has 150 branches in the capital, sold 5,160 apartments in June, down more than 2,000 from the 7,400 sold a month earlier.

Sunco's Beijing General Manager Tian Qiang insisted the gap was accentuated by a last-minute rush to sell properties before the new tax regime came into effect, but there is no disguising the overall trend.

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