China’s real estate investments decreased by 9.5% y/y in Q1

In January-March 2024, China’s real estate investment decreased by 9.5% compared to the first quarter of 2023 – to RMB 2.2 trillion ($0.31 trillion). This is reported by SteelOrbis with reference to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The total area of construction work in the country in the period decreased by 11.1% year-on-year. The new area under construction decreased by 27.8% y/y in the first quarter.

The area of new commercial real estate sold in China in the first quarter decreased by 19.4% y/y – to 226.7 million square meters.

“The investment and sales of real estate in the first quarter are indeed not very optimistic. The real estate market is still in a process of adjustment,” Sheng Laiyun, deputy commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, according to PBS.

He also admitted that growth in the sector was uneven. In particular, investment in infrastructure such as roads and bridges increased by 6.5% compared to the same period in 2023 (+6% y/y in the previous quarter).

In the first quarter of 2024, Chinese steelmakers reduced steel production by 1.9% compared to the same period in 2023 to 256.55 million tons. In March, this figure fell by 7.8% y/y – to 88.27 million tons.

At the same time, in January-March 2024, China increased its exports of steel products by 30.7% compared to the same period in 2023, to 25.8 million tons. Exports reached their highest level since 2016. Imports in the first quarter amounted to 1.75 million tons, down 8.6% year-on-year.