Due to a sales peak in June and the government’s tightening policies, Chinese real estate developers saw a significant revenue drop in July but the industry still expects to hit a new sales record in 2017. 

Compared to the previous month, China’s top 100 property developers’ revenue dropped 39.1 percent in July, business news website yicai.com reported on Saturday.

Evergrande Group, one of China’s largest real estate enterprises, recorded a total revenue of 44.16 billion yuan (6.56 billion US dollars) in July, 28 percent down from June. 

Another major property developer China Vanke Co Ltd also saw a revenue decline of 27.6 percent from the previous month to 35.56 billion yuan (5.29 billion dollars). 

Experts attributed the July revenue slide to June being a peak month – as companies make every effort to reach a nice mid-year performance, leaving less space for continuous growth. 

Also a factor, local governments in major Chinese cities announcing a new round of regulations on property in March. This entailed restrictions on land prices, property prices, as well as loans and transactions, said Yan Yuejin, a director at the Shanghai E-house China R&D Institute, 21st Century Business Herald reported on Saturday. 

However, due to a revenue surge in the first half of this year, the real estate sector achieved an impressive year-on-year sales increase from January to July, the report said, noting that Evergrande and Vanke recorded a 56 percent and 43.8 percent revenue growth respectively, in that period. 

Based on that, there is optimism in regards to whole year performance. The report says that China’s property industry will likely set a new revenue record in 2017.