Property trading in Beijing during the National Day holiday hit 3-year low for the period.

The government's property transaction management said in its website that sales of future delivery residential apartments was 114 units on Oct. 6, slumping 74 percent from the same period last year.

Even in 2008, when the property market was sluggish, transactions during the first six days of the National Day holiday period reached 1,411 units, compared with 472 units this year.

"Such a low transaction volume was largely due to the fast rising prices of property in the past few months," Eric Chan, general manager of Synergis Asset Management Services Ltd., told Beijing-based China Daily.

Chinese home prices began to pick up from one-year lows starting in February and home buying volumes reached a record high in recent months. Prices of a number of residential projects in Beijing have soared 50 percent since April.

Chan said sale of homes during the National Day Holidays often signals buyers' expectations in the fourth quarter. A lean sales in this period may indicate pessimism sales over the next few months this year, Chan said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2009)