BEIJING - The Poly Real Estate Group Co, China's second-largest developer by market value, posted a steep housing sales drop of 39.27 percent year on year, hitting 5.42 billion yuan ($857 million) in October.

In its October financial announcements filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Poly said it realized contract sales of 569,400 square meters of floor area in October, down 26.79 percent from a year ago.

For the first ten months, Poly's housing sales rose 24.59 percent year on year to 62.69 billion yuan, but dipped 0.78 percent in floor area from the previous year to 5.56 million square meters.

Increasing inventories and strict government policies have pushed property developers to court more buyers by slashing prices.

The government adopted a series of tightening measures to cool the property market this year, including prohibiting purchases of third home and raising down payment requirements.

Poly's share price fell by more than 2 percent half an hour after trading began on Tuesday.