0423 GMT - China's property sector is weighing on retail sales, according to Zavier Wong at etoro. Retail sales growth in July slowed to 0.6%, with goods spending rising by just 1.1%. The market analyst reckons China's property sector is a big reason behind this. Real estate investment fell 19.2% over the January-July period, and new-home sales value declined 13.1%. The housing market usually pulls furniture, appliance and renovation spending along with it when it is healthy, therefore, the sector's downturn removes one of the biggest natural drivers for retail sales, Wong says in a note. Five years of contraction in the property sector means that spending habits linked to housing purchases have had a long time to disappear. This isn't coming back until the sector stops shrinking, he adds.