Timing is everything. Just when China’s distressed developers are delivering their worst annual earnings on record, the country’s housing market is turning the corner.
Beijing’s abrupt exit from zero-Covid in late 2022 is reviving the real estate industry, which accounted for as much as one-quarter of GDP. Despite last year’s regulatory crackdown, homeowner protests against stalled construction projects and threats of mortgage boycotts, buyers are coming back to the housing market. In March, property sales volume in 30 major cities rose 44% from a year earlier, after averaging a 13% decline in January and February.