Home sales in Beijing during the National Day holiday dropped 51.9 percent year-on-year, official statistics showed on Monday.

Around 437 new homes were sold over the holiday, which ran from Oct 1 to 7, down 88.1 percentage points?on the previous week, according to Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Rural-Urban Development.

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"A lot of people went traveling during the holiday and this was partly responsible for the drop in property sales," said Hu Jinghui, vice-president of the real estate service company 5i5j Real Estate.

Hu said he expects property prices to continue to slide throughout October, as many potential buyers are taking a wait-and-see approach.