Business has gotten so bad for Shanghai real-estate agent Zhen Wen that he turns off the lights in his office.

　　上海房地產中介甄文（音）的業務變得非常糟，以致于他關掉了辦公室的燈。

　　“We try to keep the lights and air conditioning switched off for as long as possible,” says Mr. Zhen. His agency occupies an office in downtown Shanghai that was once a magnet for millionaire speculators, and is now almost deserted, a sign of how a slump in property transactions in the city has taken a toll on real-estate agencies.

　　甄文說，我們試圖盡量長時間地關掉燈和空調。他所供職的房地產中介公司位于上海市中心的一間辦公室。對身家數百萬的炒房人來說，上海曾是一塊極具吸引力的磁石，如今卻幾乎無人問津，顯示出上海樓市交易的低迷對房地產中介公司帶來了巨大的沖擊。

　　Official figures released Thursday offer further evidence that the government's efforts to squeeze China's property bubble are having an impact. Prices of newly built homes rose in July in 39 of 70 large and medium-size Chinese cities, down from 44 cities in June, according to a government survey.

　　相關報道周四公布的官方數據提供了更多的證明，表明政府擠壓中國樓市泡沫的努力開始產生影響。據政府的一項調查顯示，7月份，在中國70個大中城市中，有39個城市的新建住宅價格上漲，較6月份的44個城市有所減少。

　　Prices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and some other cities were flat in July from June.

　　7月份，上海、北京、深圳、廣州和其他一些城市的房價較6月份持平。

　　Sales of newly built homes in Shanghai, measured by floor space, fell 5.8% to 8.58 million square meters in the first seven months of the year from a year earlier, while prices rose 2.6% over the period, according to official data.

　　據官方數據顯示，按建筑面積計算，今年前7個月，上海新建住宅的銷售同比下滑5.8%，至858萬平方米，而同期價格上漲2.6%。

　　But despite a government push this year for more-accurate home-price data from China's National Bureau of Statistics, international markets -- and most Chinese consumers -- remain deeply dubious of the official monthly figures.

　　European Pressphoto Agency2011年7月23日，一位婦女走過上海一個高層住宅建筑工地。不過，盡管今年政府努力提高中國國家統計局公布的房價數據的準確性，國際市場（以及大部分中國消費者）卻依然對官方公布的月度數據表示深深的質疑。

　　According to data from the China Real Estate Index System, prices for new apartments in Shanghai have risen by more than 150% in the past five years. That outpaces a 107% increase in wages over the period -- moving homeownership further out of reach for average earners. Official data tell a different story. According to the statistics bureau, prices for new apartments in Shanghai have climbed 20% over the past five years.

　　據中國房地產指數系統數據，過去五年來，上海新建公寓的價格上漲了逾150%。這個漲幅超過了同期工資107%的漲幅，使工薪階層的買房夢更加渺茫了。官方數據顯示的情況卻不同。據統計局的數據，過去五年來，上海新建公寓的價格攀升了20%。

　　Transactions in the first half of the year have mainly come from first-time buyers or upgraders. Rich businessmen from nearby Zhejiang province, famed for driving up Shanghai's property market in the boom years, have largely pulled out.

　　今年上半年樓市交易主要來自首次購房者或是改善住房者。附近浙江省富有的商人基本上撤出了。房地產火爆時期，這些浙江商人因推高上海樓市而出了名。

　　Cracks started appearing in Shanghai's property market after the government in October limited households to buying one additional home, on top of nationwide curbs on bank lending.

　　除全國范圍的銀行貸款限制外，去年10月政府開始限制家庭僅能新購一套住房，之后上海樓市開始出現裂縫。

　　Many investors are sitting tight, waiting for government restrictions to ease. 很多投資者都在靜觀等待政府限制放寬。

　　“I regret not selling my apartment in Xintiandi earlier, when prices were much higher,” said one property investor who gave his name only as Mr. Fang. Apart from his apartment in Xintiandi, one of Shanghai's ritziest neighborhoods, Mr. Fang, who comes from Wenzhou, a prosperous city in Zhejiang known for its real-estate speculators, says he owns at least 10 other properties in the city.

　　一位方姓房地產投資者說，我后悔早些時候沒有把新天地的公寓賣掉，當時價格比現在高的多。除在上海最豪華的社區之一新天地的公寓外，來自溫州的方先生說，他在上海還至少有10套房。溫州是浙江省一個富裕城市，以炒房團出名。

　　Property analysts generally expect home prices in major Chinese cities to fall 5%-10% this year from the previous year, but say the market will likely avoid a full-scale crash due to a high household savings rate and a belief that government will intervene to prevent disaster. Real-estate investment is a crucial component of Chinese economic growth, equivalent to 12% of China's gross domestic product.

　　房地產分析人士普遍預計，今年中國主要城市的房價將較去年降5%-10%，不過他們說，由于家庭的高儲蓄率以及投資者認為政府將干預以避免發生災難性崩潰，市場可能不會遭遇全盤崩潰。房地產投資是中國經濟增長的一個重要成分，相當于中國國內生產總值(GDP)的12%。

　　Real-estate agency Midland Realty, a unit of Hong Kong-based Midland Holdings Ltd., closed its eight sales branches in Shanghai in May, leaving only one representative office open.

　　5月份，房地產中介公司美聯物業關閉了上海的八個銷售分支機構，只留下一個辦事處。美聯物業是香港美聯集團的子公司。

　　Restrictions on home purchases are forcing some Shanghai residents to desperate measures. One woman, who asked to be identified only by her surname, Chen, says she went through a fake divorce in order to be able to buy a larger home for her family after she gave birth last year. After the divorce, she qualified for a first-home mortgage rate, which is lower than one for a second home.

　　限購令開始迫使一些上海市民采取極端做法。一位陳姓女士說，去年她生完孩子后辦理了假離婚，以便能夠給家里買一套更大的房子。離婚后，她有資格享受首次購房者的房貸利率，這個利率比二次購房者的利率低。