Q1 big-city commercial realty market to fall

Property sales in major Chinese cities are expected to continue shrinking in the first quarter of the year as local governments step up regulation of the housing market. The total floor space of commercial housing sold in 40 cities monitored by real estate research agency E-house China R&D Institute fell 31 percent month-onmonth in January. On a yearly basis, the decline was 14 percent, with third- and fourth-tier cities seeing a 21-percent plunge in sales.