Property investment in China expands the most in 8 months

China’s property investment posted the highest growth in eight months for the month of March, as market sentiment improved amid looser monetary conditions. The data, including improved economic numbers released this week, points to signs of an economy stabilizing.

China’s real estate investment rose 12% in March on a year-on-year basis, faster than the 11.6% growth for the combined months of January and February, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed.

March’s performance marks the strongest growth since July 2018, which rose by 11.8%.

Property investment was up by 11.8% on a year-on-year basis for the first quarter of this year, higher than the 10.4% gain in the same period last year.

The Chinese government have been loosening restrictions on home purchases to boost economic activity, causing its property market to see a rebound.

According to a Reuters poll, economists are predicting for the middle kingdom’s real estate investment to rise by 7% for this year, a step up from a 4% increase in the previous poll, due to the improved domestic financing conditions.

China’s government-led recovery

China’s economic growth for the first quarter of 2019 came in at a better-than-expected 6.4% increase, helped by government stimulus measures,the country said in its latest update on Wednesday.

Among other economic data released this week, retails sales figures and industrial output performance for the month of March were also higher than predictions.

Retail sales posted an 8.7% increase, compared to the consensus of an 8.4% gain. Meanwhile, industrial output was at a robust 8.5% growth, higher than the 5.9% increase expected.

With the bullish numbers this week, the Chinese yuan strengthened against the United States dollar by 0.38% as of 4.57pm Beijing time on Thursday, at RM$6.7036.

The Chinese yuan against the Pound was 0.22% higher, at RM$8.7313.