New home sales in Shenzhen, one of China's hottest residential markets, slumped 23.6 percent by volume in January compared with a month earlier, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, citing local government data. Xinhua said homes sales in the southern Chinese metropolis dropped due to ongoing government measures to cool the market as well as the approach of the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell on Jan. 28 this year.
However, the average transaction price eased only 0.03 percent from December, according to Xinhua, citing data from the Urban Planning, Land and Resources Commission of Shenzhen.
In 2016, prices in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing soared 23.5 percent, 26.5 percent and 25.9 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.
China's economic expansion last year was partly driven by the country's surging real estate market.