China’s Q1 property investment falls 5.8% year-on-year

(Correct to add percentage indicator in headline)

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s property investment fell 5.8% from a year earlier in the first three months of 2023, from a 5.7% decline in January-February, official data showed on Tuesday.

Property sales by floor area declined 1.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of the year, versus a 3.6% fall seen in the first two months, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

New construction starts measured by floor area fell 19.2% in January-March from a year earlier, after a 9.4% drop in the first two months.

Funds raised by China’s property developers slumped 9.0% year-on-year in the first three months, after a 15.2% slump in January-February.

China’s property sector, once a key driver of the world’s second-largest economy, has been hit by a regulatory crackdown on developers’ high debt levels, which led to stalled housing projects and homebuyers boycotting mortgage repayments.

(This story has been refiled to add percentage indicator in the headline)

(Reporting by Ella Cao, Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes)