China’s Once-Sizzling Property Market Has Started to Cool

A year ago, business was humming for Liang Jiawei, a property salesman in Zhanjiang, a coastal city in southern China.

He could sell three apartments in a day without much arm-twisting. The apartments were fairly generic, Mr. Liang admitted, but the new building complex — in an up-and-coming neighborhood not far from a high-speed rail station — was enough to entice buyers.

Then came a sudden reversal of fortune. China’s property sector