China's Gemdale August property sales down 19 pct

SHANGHAI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Gemdale Corp (600383.SS), a property developer based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, said its real estate sales tumbled 19 percent from the previous month to 779 million yuan ($114 million) in August.

But sales rose from the previous month in terms of floor area, by 3.6 percent to 78,100 square metres, the firm said.

In the first eight months of this year, sales rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier in value terms to 6.71 billion yuan but fell 16 percent to 629,500 square metres in terms of area.

The figures were the latest sign of a slowdown in China's property market, which analysts said was compounded in August by the fact that the Beijing Olympics slowed business activity in the capital city and elsewhere.

Vanke (000002.SZ), China's biggest listed property developer, said on Tuesday that the value of its real estate sales plunged 35 percent from a year earlier in August, while in terms of area, sales sank 33 percent during the month. ($1 = 6.83 yuan) (Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Ken Wills)