According to a new private survey, in China, new home prices fell slightly in June compared to the previous month, marking the second month of price declines in a row. The survey went on to predict housing sales would likely remain weak during the summer due to a traditional ebb in activity during the season.

In June the average price for a new home in 100 cities surveyed dropped 0.01%, the same level of decline registered in May, according to the data from the China Index Academy, released on Saturday.

Forty-five cities reported that prices decreased.

Average prices rose 0.01% compared to the same period one year prior, over the first half of the year.

The real estate research firm noted, “In the first quarter, market confidence, driven by a concentrated release of pent-up demand, gradually returned and prices appeared to be recovering.”

It added, “In the second quarter, the pace of market recovery slowed and there was not enough momentum for prices to rise.”

Over the past two years, the property sector in China has been struggling with a severe debt crisis. It began with the government seeking to rein in a growing level of debt. However the contraction in credit hit property developers hard, causing many to default on payments as they struggled to raise funds to finish properties so they could be sold.

The sector has continued to struggle, even as local government have created hundreds of measures to try and support the it, and the Chinese government scrapped its stringent zero-Covid rules at the end of last year. Positive investor sentiment for the sector has proven ephemeral.

The China Index Academy said, “If policy support is limited, it will be difficult for home buyer confidence to improve.”

China’s property sector is responsible for about one quarter of the economy of the nation.