BEIJING - CHINA will exempt property transactions from stamp tax and value-added tax from November 1 to boost the ailing real estate market, state media reported on Wednesday, citing the finance ministry.

The brief dispatch by Xinhua news agency carried no other immediate details, but the move had been expected after a Cabinet meeting last Friday resolved to take steps to lift the slowing sector.

These would include support for home-buyers and property transaction tax adjustments, the government said at the time.

Authorities are moving to head off a market crash after recent data showed weakness in property prices.

Real estate prices in 70 major Chinese cities fell 0.1 per cent in August from July, the first month-on-month price decline since China began releasing the data in July 2005, Dow Jones Newswires reported previously, citing official figures.

China has already taken other recent stimulus steps to ward off the effect of the global financial crisis, including cutting a key lending rate on October 8 and abolishing the stamp tax on stock market transactions late last month.

China said earlier this week its economic growth slowed to 9.0 per cent in the third quarter as the world economic woes started taking a toll.

It marked the first time since late 2005 that quarterly growth slipped into single digits and the lowest growth figure since the second quarter of 2003. -- AFP