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China's Real Estate Investment Slumps 18% in H1

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Property investment in China fell 18% year over year during the first six months of the year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Wednesday.

The pace of drop was sharper than the 16.2% decline recorded in the previous five-month period.

Total construction area of real estate companies declined 12.5% in the first half to 554 million square meters, while new construction starts plummeted 23.4% to 232.4 million square meters.

Funds available to property developers tumbled 20.2% from a year earlier to 4.02 trillion yuan.

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