Kuwait's real estate sales plunged 56 per cent in October, the seventh month of decline after the government restricted private firms from trading in residential property to curb inflation, official data showed on Wednesday.

Real estate sales were down 40.95 per cent in September and 45.20 per cent in August, compared with the same period last year, the data obtained by Reuters showed.

Residential sales, the biggest proportion of total sales, fell 74.44 percent year-on-year to KD32.08 million ($116.5 million) in October, from KD36.13 million in September and KD42.22 million  in August.

Commercial property fell about 33 percent in October to KD22.35 million, compared with the same period a year earlier, after KD61.33 million in September and KD12.87 million in August.

Investment property sales slowed 45.23 percent in October to KD40.06 million, after KD26.51 million in September and KD33.86 million in August.

Earlier this year, the government introduced regulations barring private firms from buying and selling residential units to try to restrain real estate prices.

Kuwait, the only Gulf Arab state without a dollar peg, is fighting record inflation hitting 11.64 percent in August, mainly on a 13.15 percent rise in housing costs.

The central bank has urged the government, which owns more than 90 percent of land, to give away more lots to citizens to curb inflation.-Reuters