China’s Property Sales Outlook Worse Than Ratings Firms Expected
Real estate accounts for about 78% of household wealth in China — double the US rate — and families typically save for years and borrow from friends and relatives to purchase a home.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Two global credit ratings firms lowered their forecasts for China’s property market, as an accelerating slump in home prices hampers the country’s efforts to rescue the sector.
S&P Global Ratings now expects residential sales to drop 15% this year, more than the 5% decline it projected earlier. That will put sales below 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion), around half the peak in 2021, the ratings company said Thursday.