HONG KONG - The number of Hong Kong sale and purchase agreements for all building units received for registration in July was 7,291, down 37.2 percent on June and down 51 percent on July last year, according to figures the city's Land Registry released Tuesday.

The statistics showed that the 12-month moving average for July was 12,352, which was 4.9 percent below the 12-month moving average for June and 3.3 percent below that for July last year.

The total consideration for sale and purchase agreements in July was HK$42.4 billion ($5.45 billion), dropping nearly 40 percent compared with June and down about 30 percent compared with July last year.

According to the release, among the sale and purchase agreements, 5,254 were for residential units, 41.9 percent fewer than in June and 59.5 percent fewer than July last year.

The total consideration for sale and purchase agreements in respect of residential units was HK$31.8 billion, representing a fall of 39.9 percent compared with June and a fall of 39.1 percent on a year-on-year basis.