1st LD-Writethru: China's property investment, sales growth slow in July

Investment in China's property sector and property sales in the first seven months of 2016 lost momentum from the first half, but destocking has made new progress, official data showed Friday.

Property investment rose 5.3 percent year on year in the January-July period, down from 6.1 percent in the first half, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Between January and July, investment in residential property grew 4.5 percent, representing 66.8 percent of total property investment, the NBS said.

Property sales also slowed during the period, but the floor area of unsold property nationwide continued to drop, showing positive results for China's destocking efforts.

In terms of floor area, property sales jumped 26.4 percent in the first seven months, slower than the 27.9-percent gain in the first six months.

Sales revenue surged 39.8 percent in the first seven months, compared with a 42.1-percent gain in the first half, the NBS said.

By the end of July, 713.82 million square meters of property remained unsold in China, down by 340,000 square meters from a month earlier.

With a huge supply glut, the government has taken a raft of measures to support reasonable housing consumption and reduce inventory, such as lowering taxation and down payment restrictions.

The country has vowed to continue to prioritize property market destocking in the latter half.

The property data were released as part of a series of economic figures unveiled Friday by the NBS, including retail sales and industrial output. Endi