China home sales growth slows amid deleveraging drive

Slower sales: Residential buildings stand illuminated at night in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen, China. China home sales growth slowed in the first two months of this year. — Bloomberg

SHANGHAI: China home sales growth slowed in the first two months of this year, amid an almost two-year government campaign to cool the property market.

Sales by value, excluding state-subsidized affordable housing, rose 16% from a year earlier to 1.06 trillion yuan (US$168bil) in the January-February period, according to Bloomberg calculations based on official data released yesterday.