Real estate sales in China appear to have slumped during March, compounding investor concerns that more smaller, weaker property developers may be heading for debt defaults.
Data from 42 cities monitored by China Confidential, a research service at the Financial Times, showed that sales volumes during the first 23 days of March were down 34 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
The chart below shows that although on a month on month basis property sales jumped – due to the annual seasonal pick up after Chinese new year – this jump was weak compared to that seen in March 2013, resulting in a plunge in year-on-year sales volumes.