Investments in Chinese real estate fell by 12.9% y/y in January-August

Demand for construction steel in the country may recover somewhat in September

Total investment in Chinese real estate in January-August 2025 fell by 12.9% year-on-year – to 6.03 trillion yuan ($0.85 trillion). This was reported by SteelOrbis with reference to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS).

Over eight months, the total area of new commercial real estate sold in China fell by 4.7% year-on-year. The total construction area in January-August decreased by 9.3% year-on-year, and the area of new construction fell by 19.5% year-on-year.

An NBS spokesperson, according to Reuters, said that the real estate sector is still stabilizing, despite some volatility, and that additional efforts are needed to support demand.

Zhang Dawei, a real estate analyst at Centaline, believes that based on current data and market trends, the real estate market is likely to face significant downward pressure in the near term.

“The market is expecting more decisive measures to stabilize the housing sector, including easing restrictions on home purchases, loosening credit policy, and, in particular, a potential cut in the benchmark lending rate on September 20,” he added.

At the same time, Mysteel Global expects some recovery in demand for construction steel in China in September, mainly due to better weather conditions in some regions and improved financial conditions in a number of non-real estate sectors. This is evidenced by the agency’s latest monthly survey.

Data from more than 200 Chinese construction companies regularly monitored by Mysteel showed that in August 2025, they purchased a total of 5.79 million tons of construction steel (+3 million tons month-on-month). However, this is 1.2% less than the planned volume for last month.

According to the survey results, the planned purchase volume in September is estimated at 6.13 million tons (+5.9% compared to actual purchases in August).

In August, China reduced steel production to a 9-month low of 77.37 million tons. In January-August, the figure fell by 2.8% y/y. Prices for rebar fell by 4% during August. Demand remained weak, limited by the ongoing crisis in the construction sector.