BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s property investment grew 10.5% in the first nine months of 2019 from a year earlier, in line with the increase seen in the January-August period, official data showed on Friday.
Property sales by floor area fell 0.1% for January-September, compared with a 0.6% drop seen in the first eight months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.
China’s real estate market, propped up by elevated property prices, has been a pillar for the broader economy amid a slowdown in manufacturing and exports from a protracted trade war with Washington.
But the housing market’s resilience could be limited as Beijing has made clear it does not plan to expand stimulus for the sector.
The Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, took the unusual step in July of explicitly ruling out using the property market as a form of short-term stimulus to pull the economy out of its downturn.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Yawen Chen; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
