Home sales in Beijing decline by almost half

Buyers take wait-and-see attitude as inventory grows among developers

Home sales in Beijing, a city that is regarded as a barometer of China's overall property market, fell to a nine-year low in the first half of the year, raising concerns about the prospects of the country's real estate market.

There were 22,782 new homes sold in Beijing in the first six months (as of June 26), which constituted a slump of 48.7 percent over the same period last year, when 44,468 units were sold in the capital, according to Centaline Group data.