Weekend: Ex-PBoC official says China’s property downturn may continue for two more years

<p>Sheng Songcheng is a former director of the People’s Bank of China’s statistics and analysis department. He was speaking at a forum in Shanghai on Saturday.</p><p>Said that the property downturn in China is likely to persist for two more years. It will begin to regain stability after that. </p><ul><li>
New-home sales nationwide will likely shrink by another 50 million square meters both in 2024 and 2025</li><li>2025 annual total will plateau around 850 million square meters</li><li>there were some 'green shoots' appearing in November and December, such as the pace of sales decline moderating by a half in 2023 from a year earlier</li></ul><p>Info comes via Bloomberg (gated).</p><p>–</p><p>The recent events in the property sector in China include:</p><ul><li>the slide in Chinese home sales accelerated in December</li><li>authorities have rolled out more support measures, such as relaxing homebuying curbs in major cities</li></ul><p>The property sector is (was) a key growth engine for the economy, but in the past three years its been a drag, and has also contributed to heightened financial risks due to the unprecedented wave of developer defaults.</p>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.