Home sales in 20 major Chinese cities fell sharply during the week-long National Day holiday from a year earlier, the real estate company SouFun Holdings said.

Sales fell an average of 32 percent during the holiday, popularly known as China's golden week. Property prices fell 0.03 percent in September from the previous month, the first monthly drop this year, China Securities Times reported.

The National Day holiday is traditionally a peak sales period for developers. The fall may mark a turning point for the property market as home buyers wait for prices to drop further, the paper said.

By Sun Yuanqing