Between January and March this year, total real estate investment in China was 1,772.0 billion yuan (US$258.3 billion), down 11.2 percent year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the decline recorded between January and February, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
During the period, new commercial properties sold in China rank a total area of 195.25 million m2, down 10.4 percent from last year, 3.1 percentage points slower than the decline recorded in the first two months. There was some improvement in sales in March, but sales were weaker compared to 2025.
In the first three months, China's total construction activity area fell 11.7 percent year-on-year.
China's new construction activity area, which is directly linked to the segment's steel consumption, fell 20.3 percent year-on-year, below 23.1 percent. the annual decline was observed in the first two months of the year. It also signals a slight improvement in March, but market sources still agree that while the rate of decline in new construction is above 10 percent, the real estate market as a steel-consuming industry is in deterioration territory.
According to the China Institute of Iron and Steel Industry Planning and Research, the construction industry's share of China's total steel consumption fell to 49 percent in 2025, a loss of as much as nine percent. points, up from 58 percent last year. 2020. The rate of decline in steel use in the construction segment was particularly strong last year, when it fell 13 percent. The 2026 forecast assumes the downward trend will continue, but steel demand is expected to decline at a slower rate of about 4.1 percent. Given the situation in the first quarter, the real estate market in China is expected to show slightly better results later this year
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