SHANGHAI, Nov 6 (SMM) – Total land sales in 40 Chinese cities decreased 22% from a month earlier to stand at 38.9 million m² in October, standing 2.9% higher than the corresponding month of 2017, the latest industry data showed.

This brought total land sales, in the 40 cities monitored by E-house, to 401.81 million m² in the first 10 months of the year, up 19.7% from a year earlier.

The sales data have remained in expansion territory for 20 consecutive months, but therate of growth has slowed sharply since June, suggesting a cooldown across the market, said Shen Xin, analyst at the Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute.