Total sales of China's top 100 property developers down in August

BEIJING - China's top 100 real estate developers saw their total sales edge down 1.7 percent month-on-month in August, slightly lower than the average sales from January to June, the China Securities Journal reported Sunday, citing an industry report.

Domestic property giant Country Garden, Evergrande Group and Vanke still took the lead in the sector with their sales hitting 509.5 billion yuan (about $71.9 billion), 427.3 billion yuan and 370.3 billion yuan, respectively in the first eight months, according to China Real Estate Information Corp (CRIC), an online industrial information provider.

The housing market in the first-tier cities has seen a significant drop in property sales last month, with that of Beijng posting a plunge of 42 percent month-on-month.

While the sector's profit margins were squeezed at the moment, profitability in the future will be increasingly reliant on refined operations of enterprises and the products, the CRIC said.

However, "with the peak season from September to November coming up, the dipping sales are expected to stabilize as property developers will certainly boost promotions," it added.