Breaking | China’s property fall outshines spending rebound in May, challenging Beijing economic targets
The performance of China’s economy was mixed in May, with property investment contracting further but consumer spending slightly more than the same time a year ago.
A raft of data released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) presented fresh challenges for the world’s second-largest economy, whose leaders vowed to meet its 2024 growth target of around 5 per cent during a protracted post-pandemic recovery.
The government data also showed that overall fixed-asset investment, which includes properties, manufacturing investment and transport construction, rose by 4 per cent in the first five months of 2024 compared with a 4.2 per cent gain in the January-April period.
Property investment fell by 10.1 per cent, year on year, in the first five months of 2024, worsening from a 9.8 per cent drop from January through April and a 9.5 per cent drop in the first quarter.
Floor space of new homes sold fell by 20.3 per cent in the first five months of the year compared with the same period of 2023. The total sales value of new homes plunged 27.9 per cent, year on year.
Retail sales growth, a barometer for consumption, rose by 3.7 per cent year on year last month, compared with the 2.3 per cent growth seen in April.
Spending ballooned during China’s five-day May Day break, when officials tracked 295 million domestic trips. May Day tourism revenue reached 166.89 billion yuan (US$23 billion), 12.7 per cent higher than the previous year and up 13.5 per cent over 2019.
China’s industrial output grew by 5.6 per cent last month from May 2023, after a 6.7 per cent year-on-year rise in April.
China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5 per cent last month, unchanged from that in April.
More to follow…
