China Jan-Oct property investment growth eases to 12.4% y-o-y

[BEIJING] Chinese real estate investment rose 12.4 per cent in the first 10 months of 2014 from a year earlier, while revenue from property sales dropped 7.9 per cent on an annual basis, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

The rise in investment compared with an increase of 12.5 per cent in the first nine months of 2014. The drop in revenue for January to September was 8.9 per cent.

Economists believe the cooling housing market poses the biggest risk to the world's second-largest economy, even as Beijing tries to stimulate overall growth.

Real estate investment directly affects about 40 other business sectors and is a crucial driver of activity.

REUTERS