BEIJING -- China's big cities, notorious for their skyhigh housing prices, reported decreases in apartment sales during the weeklong National Day holiday, signalling continous downturn in a traditionally boom season for the real estate market.

Apartments sales in Beijing dropped 22.8 percent from a year ago during the holiday from Oct. 1 to 7, which is called a "Golden Week", according to statistics released on Saturday by the Beijing Real Estate Association.

The total number of residential apartments sold in Beijing in the period was 1,039, including 908 newly built units and 131 second-hand units, according to the statistics.

The figure also represented a 62-percent decline from the same period in September.

September and October are traditionally seen as "boom months" for the city's real estate market. This year's poor fall sales may signal the arrival of a turning point in the city's overheated property market, according to Chen Guoqiang, vice chairman of the China Real Estate Society.

Real estate analysts said that the chilly housing market will make it difficult for developers to secure financing, which will in turn lead to decreased housing prices, which have more than tripled in Beijing over the last five years.