Although the upcoming Olympics is as hot as the summer heat in Beijing, the property market in the capital, however, is definitely cooling down.

Home sales in Beijing turned sluggish since the end of 2007 after the government raised the down payment requirement, tax rates and interest rates.

(CCTV07-28-2008)--Although the upcoming Olympics is as hot as the summer heat in Beijing, the property market in the capital, however, is definitely cooling down. With the trading volume and rate of property price increases both declining in the first half of the year, many are gloomy about the post-Olympic home prices.

Home sales in Beijing turned sluggish since the end of 2007 after the government raised the down payment requirement, tax rates and interest rates.

The country's top economic planner said earlier that Beijing's home price-rising was one percent slower in June than last year, although the hot-spot for developers still experienced 14 percent annual growth in the month. Trading volume dropped significantly since home buyers are taking a wait-and-see attitude to the market.

But many analysts and industry observers are confident that Beijing's property market will continue to shine after the Games in August.

The city has been busy upgrading infrastructure since seven years ago when it won the Olympic bid. With a 280 billion yuan budget, the capital has doubled its subway mileage, doubled the number of blue sky days in a year, added a world class terminal to its airport and erected numerous state of the art buildings. But market observers say the Olympics is just an accelerator for the city, not an engine without which the growth would stop.

Experts say Beijing's massive 16 million population, which is still growing will bolster housing demand and keep post-Olympics prices stable, which has been the case with many other Olympic host cities.