May. 23, 2012 (China Knowledge) - China's spending on online advertising for new properties totaled RMB 692 million in the first quarter of this year, representing a sequential drop of 45.1%.

Around 32.3% of such advertisement was published on lejun.com, an affiliate of U.S.-listed Sina Corp<SINA>, which operates the largest web portal in China, while 31.2% via SouFun Holdings Ltd<SFUN>, a Chinese operator of real estate Internet portal, 12.8% on the website of house.focus.cn, operated by Sohu.com Inc<SOHU>, 8.5% through Tencent Holdings Ltd<0700>, a leading provider of Internet, mobile and telecom value-added services in China, 1.3% via online portal taofang.com and 0.8% via NetEase.com Inc<NTES>, the leading Chinese free email provider.

In the first quarter of 2012, there were 3,812 sponsors of online advertisement for new properties in China, down 8.3% quarter on quarter and down 4.4% from a year earlier.

Analysts said many real estate developers have cut advertising expenses due to weak sales, as the Chinese government is still curbing the property market.