More home buyers in China shelved their purchase plans as strictly enforced restrictions to quell speculation continued to bite, resulting in slowing new property sales. More than CNY3.66 trillion of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, were sold during the first five months of this year, up 15.3% annually, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. But the growth slowed from a rise of 16.1% in the first four months and a gain of 20.2% in the first quarter. The area of new homes sold during the five-month period rose 11.9% from a year earlier to 479.57 million square meters, slowing from a 13% increase in the first four months and a 16.9% gain from January to March. Zhang Dawei, Chief Analyst at Centaline Property, blamed the slowing home sales to tightening measures implemented in first and second-tier cities around the country, including stricter home purchase curbs, higher down-payment requirements and mortgage rates, as well as a newly introduced lockup period for home sales.