China's Property Bubble Deflating?

According to Dragonomics, sales volume in the nine cities it tracks fell by about half since the start of the year.

In Beijing, that has meant rising rents, say real-estate agents.

Zhang Kai, an agent at Home Link in middle-class neighbourhood Tuanjiehu said the number of sales had dropped by half since February and monthly rents for small apartments jumped to about 3000 yuan in June from 2500 yuan a month earlier.

Many apartment owners don't want to sell, he said, because they are waiting for prices to turn around.

The Australian