China’s National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday the country’s gross domestic product rose 7.3% on the year for three months through September, the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2009.
Inflation-adjusted economic growth slowed, quarter-on-quarter, for the time since the January-March period of 2014, and matched the average market estimate in a survey by The Nikkei and Nikkei Quick News
Investment and production were stagnant, largely due to a slowdown in home sales throughout the country. The slowing Chinese economy may, in turn, hamper global growth.
Other economic data indicate the Chinese economy began losing momentum in the summer due to the cooling housing market. Rising home inventories weighed on prices, which, in turn, put a lid on new investment in the sector.
For the nine months through September, investment in real estate development projects, which makes up roughly 20% of China’s total investment, rose a modest 12.5% on the year. That was a sharp falloff from the first six months of the year, which saw on-year growth of 14.1%.
Slumping home sales also dampened purchases of such durable goods as cars, casting a shadow over output more broadly. Industrial production for nine months through September rose 8.5% on the year, compared with 8.8% growth during the first six months of the year.
