In the January-April period this year, total real estate investments in China amounted to RMB 2396.9 billion ($350.4 billion), down 13.7 percent year on year, 2.5 percentage points faster than the decline recorded in the January-March period, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In the given period, new commercial real estate sold in China covered a total area of 252.58 million m2, down 10.2 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage points slower than the decline recorded in the first three months. There has been some improvement in sales in April, but still in comparison to 2025, sales have been weaker.
In the first four months, the total area covered by construction activity in China declined by 12.1 percent year on year.
The new area covered by construction activity in China, which is directly connected with steel consumption in this segment, decreased by 22.0 percent year on year, faster than the 20.3 percent year-on-year drop seen in the first three months of the year. This signals a worsening situation in April, adding the pace of decline in new construction is at 12.1 percent, the real estate market as a steel consuming industry has still been in a deteriorating zone.
According to the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, the share of the construction industry in total steel consumption in China fell to 49.0 percent in 2025, losing as much as nine percentage points compared to a 58 percent share in 2020. The pace of decline in steel usage in the construction segment was especially strong last year, when it shrunk by 13.0 percent. The projection for 2026 is a continued downtrend, but steel demand is expected to decline at a slower pace - by around 4.1 percent.
$1 = RMB 6.8375