China's January home improvement sales drop as housing market eases

BEIJING - China's home improvement market reported dropping sales in January as the country's property transactions slow down.

Home improvement sales totaled 61.7 billion yuan ($9.2 billion), down 9.46 percent year on year, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce and the China Building Materials Circulation Association (CBMCA).

The index gauging the growth of the sector stood at 73.99 in January, down by 5.83 points compared with January 2018.

The CBMCA attributed the index dip to the impact of the slowing 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 went down 31 percent month-on-month in January.