Home sales in the first 20 days of August fell 8.9 percent over the same period in July, Centaline Beijing's data showed.

The figures in 54 cities that the company monitored hit 165,930. Though lower than that of July, the figure was still the second highest this year.

Home sales in major cities registered a bigger month-on-month decline. Shanghai saw a 30 percent decline, while Hangzhou, Nanjing and Wuhan registered a fall of nearly 20 percent.