China Property Slump Adds Danger to Local Finances

China’s weakening property market poses an increasing danger to local governments, threatening to strain their finances and intensify an economic slowdown.

Land sales in 20 major cities fell 5 percent in March from a year earlier, the biggest drop in at least a year, according to China Real Estate Information Corp. data compiled by Bloomberg. The value of land sales in third-tier cities declined 27 percent last month, according to SouFun Holdings Ltd., the nation’s biggest real-estate website owner.