China's property sector showed new signs of cooling in April, with more Chinese cities reporting month-on-month drops in prices and fewer cities reporting gains, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on May 18.

Of a statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities, new homes in eight cities saw month-on-month price declines in April, double of the figure from March.

A total of 44 cities saw month-on-month price gains in new home prices in April, down from 56 for March and 57 for February. Among the 44 cities with rising new home prices, growth decelerated in 31 cities.

Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, saw its new home price dropping the most of the 70 cities, down by 0.7 percent from March.

For existing homes, 22 cities saw month-on-month declines with Hangzhou also dropping the most, by 0.8 percent.

Prices for existing homes increased in 35 cities month on month in April, notably down from 42 cities in March and from 46 in February.

Diversifying Financing

The NDRC has invited social capital to invest in a list of 80 projects, the latest step in bringing private funds to infrastructure investment.

It is also an attempt to inject vitality into the economy.

The list covers construction and operation of railways, roads, harbors, wind power stations and oil pipelines. Opening these sectors to social capital will speed up changes of investment and financing regimes and diversify investment sources. Most of the industries used to be dominated by state capital and were off-limits to private and foreign investors.

Social capital, particularly private investment, is welcomed and encouraged to participate in the construction and operation of such facilities through joint ventures, wholly funded entities or franchise businesses, the NDRC said.

The private sector accounted for 63 percent of fixed-asset investment last year, according to the NBS.

Real Estate Fund

The first real estate investment trust (REIT) fund in China's domestic market started trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on May 21, the Shanghai Securities News reported.

CITIC Securities, the country's largest brokerage firm, issued the fund product.

REITs mainly invest in existing commercial properties and pay rent collected from them as dividend.

They are prohibited from investing in property development projects and turning into a fundraising channel for developers, according to the report.

The fund product offers an investment alternative in the capital market and is expected to help Chinese investors to diversify their portfolio, said analysts.

More Outlets in China

Walmart Stores, the world's largest supermarket chain, announced on May 20 that it will build about 30 new stores and more distribution centers in China this year.

The U.S. retailer said it will continue to develop businesses in the country's big cities. And more supercenters will be built in third- and fourth-tier cities to serve emerging consumers amid China's urbanization drive.

Walmart also plans to open two new branches of its Sam's Club chain of membership-only retail warehouses, in Wuhan of central China's Hubei Province and Changzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province, this year.

The retailer also decided to invest 580 million yuan ($94 million) to upgrade about 55 old outlets, aiming to improve operating performance and the customer experience.

By the end of April, it had over 400 outlets in the country.