In the January-May period this year, total real estate investments in China amounted to RMB 3.0356 trillion ($0.45 trillion), down 16.2 percent year on year, 2.6 percentage points faster than the decline recorded in the January-April 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 313.2 million m2, down 10.8 percent year on year, 0.6 percentage points faster than the decline recorded in the first four months.
In the first five months, the total area covered by construction activity in China declined by 12.3 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage points faster than the decrease recorded in the first four months.
The new area covered by construction activity in China, which is linked directly to steel consumption in this segment, decreased by 22.6 percent year on year, faster than the 22.0 percent year-on-year drop seen in the first four months of the year. This signals a worsening situation in May, with the real estate market as a steel consuming industry still deteriorating.
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 percent in 2025, down by 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 percent. The projection for 2026 is for a continued downtrend, but steel demand is expected to decline at a slower pace, by around 4.1 percent.
