Almost half of 30 large Chinese cities saw a drop in the sale of residential houses in September, according to Shanghai-based China Index Academy, which is affiliated to SouFun.com, a top real estate website in China.

The research showed the area of houses sold in 14 of 30 large cities in September went down from August. And the total areas sold in the 30 cities registered a 3.83-percent month-on-month fall.

Among the seven major cities where house prices were available at present, three cities, including Shenzhen, Chongqing and Beijing, saw prices up, according to the research.

Housing prices in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 2 percent in August compared to the same month of last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics in September.

(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2009)