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

　　上海房地产中介甄文（音）的业务变得非常糟，以致于他关掉了办公室的灯。

　　“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.

　　甄文说，我们试图尽量长时间地关掉灯和空调。他所供职的房地产中介公司位于上海市中心的一间办公室。对身家数百万的炒房人来说，上海曾是一块极具吸引力的磁石，如今却几乎无人问津，显示出上海楼市交易的低迷对房地产中介公司带来了巨大的冲击。

　　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.

　　相关报道周四公布的官方数据提供了更多的证明，表明政府挤压中国楼市泡沫的努力开始产生影响。据政府的一项调查显示，7月份，在中国70个大中城市中，有39个城市的新建住宅价格上涨，较6月份的44个城市有所减少。

　　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、广州和其他一些城市的房价较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.

　　据官方数据显示，按建筑面积计算，今年前7个月，上海新建住宅的销售同比下滑5.8%，至858万平方米，而同期价格上涨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，一位妇女走过上海一个高层住宅建筑工地。不过，尽管今年政府努力提高中国国家统计局公布的房价数据的准确性，国际市场（以及大部分中国消费者）却依然对官方公布的月度数据表示深深的质疑。

　　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.

　　据中国房地产指数系统数据，过去五年来，上海新建公寓的价格上涨了逾150%。这个涨幅超过了同期工资107%的涨幅，使工薪阶层的买房梦更加渺茫了。官方数据显示的情况却不同。据统计局的数据，过去五年来，上海新建公寓的价格攀升了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.

　　今年上半年楼市交易主要来自首次购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。房地产火爆时期，这些浙江商人因推高上海楼市而出了名。

　　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.

　　除全国范围的银行贷款限制外，去年10月政府开始限制家庭仅能新购一套住房，之后上海楼市开始出现裂缝。

　　Many investors are sitting tight, waiting for government restrictions to ease. 很多投资者都在静观等待政府限制放宽。

　　“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.

　　一位方姓房地产投资者说，我后悔早些时候没有把新天地的公寓卖掉，当时价格比现在高的多。除在上海最豪华的社区之一新天地的公寓外，来自温州的方先生说，他在上海还至少有10套房。温州是浙江省一个富裕城市，以炒房团出名。

　　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.

　　房地产分析人士普遍预计，今年中国主要城市的房价将较去年降5%-10%，不过他们说，由于家庭的高储蓄率以及投资者认为政府将干预以避免发生灾难性崩溃，市场可能不会遭遇全盘崩溃。房地产投资是中国经济增长的一个重要成分，相当于中国国内生产总值(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，房地产中介公司美联物业关闭了上海的八个销售分支机构，只留下一个办事处。美联物业是香港美联集团的子公司。

　　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.

　　限购令开始迫使一些上海市民采取极端做法。一位陈姓女士说，去年她生完孩子后办理了假离婚，以便能够给家里买一套更大的房子。离婚后，她有资格享受首次购房者的房贷利率，这个利率比二次购房者的利率低。