China’s Property Market Off to Bleak Start in 2022

China’s real estate market continued its downward spiral in the first month of 2022, as total sales of China’s top 100 property developers fell 39.6% year-on-year by value. China Real Estate Information Corp. (CRIC), the consultancy that compiled the data, said sales could shrink further in February.

Most of the top 100 property companies recorded lower January sales than last year, and the value of monthly sales was lower than the 2021 average by 43%, according to a CRIC report published on Monday. China Evergrande Group, whose debt woes made it a poster child for China’s property slump, recorded 2.95 billion yuan ($460 million) in January sales, sinking to the 49th place. In 2021, Evergrande ranked fifth in total sales, amounting to 435.63 billion yuan and averaging more than 36 billion yuan per month, an earlier CRIC report shows.