China Vanke, the country's largest listed real estate developer, said property sales revenue fell 35.2 percent in August 2008 compared to August 2007.

Sales revenue last month was 4.07 billion yuan (US$595 million) the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Tuesday. This is the third consecutive month of decline,

However, for the first eight months this year, sales revenue is actually up 5 percent to 31.31 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion).

The amount of property sold remains in decline. In August, 474,000 square meters was sold, down 32.8 percent from 2007. This was the fourth consecutive month of decline which brought the year's total sales down 4.8 percent.

To deal with slow sales, real estate firms are giving discounts in many cities. The government has also tightened credit over property development in an effort to bring surging housing prices under control.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2008)