Beijing property sales decelerate

BEIJING -- Commercial property sales in Beijing hit 14.55 million square meters in the first ten months of the year, up 10.8 percent from a year earlier, local statistics bureau said Tuesday.

The pace of growth was lower than the 15.9 percent for the Jan-Sept period, 32.4 percent for the first half and 82.7 percent for the first quarter, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

In the Jan-Oct period, housing sales rose 3.2 percent year on year to 10.46 million square meters, it said.

The transaction boom earlier in the year came after buyers snapped up homes in the first quarter amid fears over a looming capital gains tax on housing sales.

Transaction volumes then slowed in the following months due to the tax, high prices and government curbs on market speculation.

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