Year in Review: China’s Real Estate Sector in Crisis

China’s real estate sector started 2023 on a promising note after a year-long slump. In the first two months, sales of newly built residential property grew by 3.5% year-on-year to 1.4 trillion yuan ($201 billion), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data show, the first positive cumulative growth since December 2021.

However, after the pent-up demand that accumulated during the pandemic was released, the momentum of recovery faltered and sales resumed their decline. Concerned about the impact of the slump on the economy — property and related industries accounted for around 13% to 14% of the country’s GDP in 2022, according to the NBS — policymakers stepped up efforts to kick-start the sector.