China property sales could plunge by one-third, analysts say, as crisis deepens

Apartment blocks in Beijing. Ratings agency S&P thinks home sales could fall as much as 33% this year. Photograph: Wu Hao/EPA

Property sales in China could fall by one-third this year, spelling more trouble for the country’s giant housing sector as people lose faith in the market and pressure increases on struggling developers to complete presold apartments.

Amid reports that the government is preparing a bailout of the sector that could cost 300bn yuan ($44bn), experts at the rating agency S&P have concluded that the fall in sales will be twice as bad as they had originally forecast for this year.