Commercial property sales in Beijing increased 21.7 percent year on year to 8.19 million square meters in the first seven months of 2012, said the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics on August 13. Of the total, commercial housing sales soared 31.2 percent year on year to 6.21 million square meters.

Home sales in July alone skyrocketed over 68 percent year on year and 19 percent month on month to hit 1.42 million square meters.

The sales surge came after two interest rate cuts since June reduced mortgage costs and strengthened market expectations that further loosening policies would trigger a stronger real estate market rebound, said Zhang Dawei, head of the research department at Centaline Property Agency in Beijing.

The housing market in the capital city cooled last year after the government unveiled a slew of measures including purchase restrictions, hikes in lending rates and a ban on mortgage loans for third homes.