China: Property market remains gloomy – Standard Chartered

Analysts at Standard Chartered, suggest that their China Developers Sentiment Index (CDSI) remained at a low level of 39.0 in early 2019 on deteriorating housing sales and developers’ financing.

Key Quotes

“China’s property market remains gloomy amid weakening sentiment. The CDSI, which is based on our latest semi-annual proprietary China developer survey, remained at a low level of 39.0 in January 2019. Though it inched up from the record low of 38.5 in mid-2018 on a mild improvement in the policy sub-index, the reading is much lower than the 43.8 in 2018 and 55.6 in 2017 on a deterioration in the sales and financing sub-indices. This suggests another difficult year for the sector. Our key findings affirm our call that slower property investment in 2019 is a headwind for economic growth.”

“Construction activity remained subdued in H2-2018 after moderating in H1-2018, and is expected to ease further in H1-2019 on difficult financing conditions and a cautious market outlook. This implies slower property investment growth ahead.”