China's property market are returning on an even keel with data showing continued signs of recovery in the first two months of 2025, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
At a press conference in Beijing briefing China's economic performance in the first two months this year, NBS spokesman Fu Linghui said there are some positive changes in the real east sector.
First, the property market witnessed stable transactions in this period, Fu said.
"From January to February, the year-on-year decline in the area and value of new commercial housing sales narrowed by 7.8 and 14.5 percentage points, respectively. In the 40 key cities we track, sales area and value of new commercial housing in the first two months increased by 1.3 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively, year over year," Fu said.
Second, housing prices continued to stabilize in February, with the prices of new residential properties in the four first-tier cities rising by 0.1 percent month on month, the same as the previous month.
Third, market expectations remain stable.
"In February, among some real estate development enterprises and intermediary services in 70 large and medium-sized cities, 71.8 percent of employee respondents expected the market of new commercial housing to remain stable or rise in the next six months, up 2.8 percentage points from the previous month, showing a stable market expectation by related institutions," he said.
Fourth, business of real estate development enterprises have improved, Fu said.
"In the first two months, the year-on-year decline in real estate development investment narrowed by 0.8 percentage points compared with that of the whole year of 2024, of which the decline in residential investment narrowed by 1.3 percentage points, and the decline in funds in place of real estate development enterprises narrowed by 13.4 percentage points compared with that of 2024," he said.
China's property market getting back on even keel: official
The United States military hit a civil factory in Yemen's Hodeidah city amid its fresh round of airstrikes on the Houthi-held Red Sea port city on Monday night.
The privately-owned iron and steel plant, located in the Salif district north of Hodeidah city, was targeted by 12 U.S. missiles.
Footage recorded by a China Media Group (CMG) correspondent showed that the roof of the factory completely collapsed after the airstrike, and broken bricks and tiles, as well as shrapnel from artillery shells, could be seen everywhere.
The factory had to stop production due to the damage to the equipment.
"The attack on this plant will leave 250 to 300 workers unemployed, with material losses estimated between 13 million to 14 million U.S. dollars," said Saleh Atifa, Houthi-appointed head of Hodeidah's industrial department.
The U.S. military claimed that they were targeting military facilities, but the steel plant was completely an independent civilian plant, according to the Houthis.
"The brutal hostility of the U.S. military targets civilian facilities and other key facilities. Like the steel plant you see here, it belongs neither to the state nor to the military, nor to the security department or the Houthis. It is an independent civilian factory," said Hodeidah governor Abdullah Atifi.
Over the past two days, dozens of Houthi-controlled military sites, as well as dozens of residential houses, have been targeted and bombed by U.S. fighter jets across the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, and several other northern and western provinces under Houthi control.
The tensions in the Red Sea are a visible manifestation of the spillover effects of the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict centered on the Gaza Strip.
The renewed conflict in the Red Sea comes after Israel halted the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza Strip on March 2, coinciding with the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
On Tuesday, the Houthi group announced that it would resume launching attacks against any Israeli ship in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab al-Mandab Strait until the crossings of the Gaza Strip are reopened and aid is allowed in.
US military hits civil steel plant in Hodeidah, Yemen
