CHAN:
In China the first week of October is called the "Golden Week" in the real estate trading market. It's usually the busiest time for property trading, with great promotions and deals. But this year it wasn't very booming... as sales took a sharp decline. NTD spoke with one economist to find out why.

STORY:
According to the statistics from the Beijing Property Trading Management Network, from the 29th of September to the 4th of October, only about 70 households were traded daily... a drop of more than 70 percent from last year's sales. And this is happening all throughout China.

Economist Dr. Jian Tianlun believes that there is not enough competition in the property trading market because the Chinese Communist Party changes land prices sporadically. That means buyers are waiting it out for the best price. Recent global stock market downturns are also having an effect.

Dr. Jian used a property named "The city of charm" in Hangzhou as an example. The property value raised to a peak of $12,000 per square meter from $9,200 per square meter. Six months later the price dropped back to $9,000.

Economist Dr. Jian is concerned by the rapid price changes.

[Dr. Jian Tianlun, Economist]:
"This could be a huge turning point. The Chinese property trading market could fail, especially after the fall of the stock market, because of the unstable financial market, the broken chain of funds from the developers and banks, or because buyers are unable to afford the price. All of these factors could cause the failure of Chinese property trading market."

The Shanghai Composite Index fell about 17 point on Thursday, closing at 2074.