CHINA's non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index fell from 55 in June to a six-month low of 54.2 in July as demand from the property market faltered, Bloomberg reported.

The report highlights how a drop in the property market could threaten economic growth and contrasts with a government report last week that showed manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in more than two years.

The International Monetary Fund warned last week that real estate represents the biggest near-term risk to China's economy.

"Real estate continued to soften, reflecting a thin market in the low season," Cai Jin, vice chairman at the logistics federation. "The decline in the index isn't large and overall, markets are stable."

A gauge of business expectations in the survey rose to 61.5 in July from 60.4 in June. Services accounted for 46.6 per cent of GDP in the first half of 2014, up 1.3 per cent year on year.

Expansion in services quickened to eight per cent in the first half from 7.8 per cent in the first quarter, and compared with a 7.4 per cent pace in manufacturing, mining and construction industries.