Real estate investments in China bounce back in April

A report reveals that the reopening of the economy has also started to gradually reignite sales

In China, the rate of real estate investments has increased, while sales have started to gradually recover in April as Beijing starts to reboot the economy, reported The Business Times, citing estimations by Reuters.

The real estate industry is one of the major drivers of growth in the country and it was one of the many sectors that was hit hard by the stringent containment protocols amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Fortunately in April, property investment, which is mostly made up of residential housing, as well as commercial and office buildings, grew by seven percent in April from an increase of only 1.2 percent in March. Nevertheless, the numbers still dropped by 3.3 percent from January to April in 2020 compared to a year before.

More: China’s retail sector set to recover in the second half of 2020

Real estate sales have started to improve in April, dropping at only 2.1 percent by floor area as opposed to 14.1 percent from a month before. In the first four months of 2020, however, it still tumbled by 19.3 percent, mostly caused by the market freeze in January and February as city-wide lockdowns halted business activity and prevented consumers from visiting showrooms.

As for new construction, the statistics measured by floor area dropped at 1.3 percent from the previous year and at 10.4 percent from a month before.

Revenue generated by the property developers in the country collapsed by 10.4 percent in the first four months of the year, which has slowly recovered from the 13.8 percent decline from January to March.

To help boost the economy, the central bank has promised to improve policy measures, yet they still warned against the risks of a property bubble.