China’s January-March property investments fall 7.7% y-o-y in three months

 Real estate investments in China fell 7.7 percent in the first three months of 2020 from a year earlier, official data showed on Friday.

The property market, a key growth driver, was among many segments of the Chinese economy impacted by the coronavirus epidemic that emerged in the country in late 2019 and brought the country to a near-standstill for weeks.

Real estate investment declined by a record 16.3 percent in the first two months of 2020.

Property sales by floor area fell 26.3 percent from a year earlier in the first three months of 2020, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. It declined 39.9 percent in the first two months of the year, according to Reuters calculations based on the official data.

New construction starts measured by floor area fell 27.2 percent from a year earlier following a 44.9 percent drop in the January-February period.

Funds raised by China’s property developers fell 13.8 percent in the same period, compared with a 17.5 percent drop for January-February 2020.

The statistics bureau releases a combined January-February investment data to account for seasonal distortions caused by the Lunar New Year holidays.