China's business confidence index in the property market dropped 19.8 points in the second quarter compared with the first three months of this year, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

The result comes from a quarterly survey of 19,500 companies of various kinds. The new index declined by 14.6 points from the same period of last year.

A large number of potential Chinese buyers postponed their house buying plans following a set of government policies aimed at cooling the overheated real estate sector.

Seven major government ministries jointly issued a circular in May to curb the soaring housing prices by proposing using taxation and other policies to discourage speculation and ensure the supply of affordable housing.

Housing developers, meanwhile, instead of lowering prices, also took a wait-and-see attitude, in a hope that the property market might warm again sometime later.

Reports said deals on new houses in Chinese capital Beijing in May were half of that in April.

Source: Xinhua