China's property crisis has been in the headlines for years, culminating in fresh reports at the end of last year, signaling that over half of listed property developers had either defaulted on their liabilities or restructured their public debts.1Sales of new residential property in 2023 were at half the pace of 2021. New residential starts fell by a similar amount.
Overlooked in these reports were some favorable developments, reflected in the figure below: In 2023 completions of residential property rose by 17 percent, totaling nearly 725 million square meters, outstripping the pace of new…
