The property market in the first half of 2012 was slower than projected, said Wang Juelin, vice-director of the Policy Research Center with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, China's real estate watchdog, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Aug 9.

Total sales of housing projects reached 390 million square meters in the first half. Based on this figure, sales are expected to reach 800 million sq m at the end of the year, said Wang.

The total space of homes sold in 2011 was 1.10 billion sq m.

In some first- and second-tier cities, the market was supported in the first half mainly by eased financing, said Wang.

However, increased housing sales may lead to a price rebound and will undermine government controls to curb housing prices, he added.

It's also essential to bridge the gap between demand and supply in order to bring housing prices to a reasonable level, but suspended development in many areas around the country have not helped to solve the problem, said Wang.