China January-October Housing Sales Rise 9.6% From a Year Earlier

China's housing sales decline slowed further as property controls chilled the market.

Housing sales by value in October were 3.4% lower from a year earlier, according to calculations made by The Wall Street Journal based on National Bureau of Statistics data released Tuesday. That compared with a 2.4% decrease in September, marking the second straight month of contraction.

For the first 10 months of the year, housing sales grew 9.6% from a year earlier, compared with an 11.4% increase from January through September.

Property investment, including in commercial and residential real estate, rose 7.8% in the year through October to 9 trillion yuan, compared with an 8.1% gain in the first nine months of the year.

Construction starts grew 5.6% from a year earlier to 1.45 billion square meters. That compared with 6.8% growth in the year through August.

Write to Dominique Fong at dominique.fong@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 13, 2017 21:35 ET (02:35 GMT)