Income, value, commodities, trade, real estate - all down
It appeared as though things went from bad to
worse nearly overnight; China's National
Bureau of Statistics said that contrary to
hopes that there would be a modest rebound,
the average new home price in China fell at
the fastest pace on record in February, from the previous year. Reuters reported that average new home prices in China's 70 major cities fell 5.7
percent, year to year, in February - marking
the sixth consecutive drop after January's
decline of 5.1 percent. In all, the decline marks
the largest annual drop in the nationwide
survey since it was initiated in 2011. As Reuters further noted: The monthly fall in February from January was
0.4 percent, the same as in the previous month,
and pointing to sustained risks to the
government's new 7 percent economic growth
target for the year. The property sector accounts
for some 15 percent of China's gross domestic product (GDP). The record fall coincided with news that Chinese
banks have extended Evergrande Real Estate
Group 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) in credit,
as the real estate slump extends to one of the
country's biggest and most indebted property
developers. Durden further cited a Shanghai Daily report noting that China's fiscal revenue was growing
at a much slower pace than expected as well: Fiscal revenue rose 3.2 percent to 2.57 trillion
yuan (US$411 million) in the first two months,
down from 11.1 percent in the same period a
year ago and 2014's 8.6 percent rise, the
Ministry of Finance said... Personal income tax dropped 7.1 percent year
on year to 164.6 billion yuan. In addition, government revenue from tariffs
fell 5.3 percent following the deline in prices
for oil, iron ore and commodities, and that
reduced the value of imports.