On the left, the two lines represent the activities within China's property market in terms of volume and price. The blue line is the volume index constructed with floor space sold, floor space started, floor space completed in the housing market, and land area purchased by developers. Meanwhile, the grey line represents the change in nationwide property prices. The declines in both indices point to challenges in the real estate sector, which is an important growth engine in the past two decades as well as key source of fiscal revenue for local governments.
On the right, the bars illustrate the volume and structure of funding sources for Chinese property developers. Due to the deleveraging measures in 2021, developers are facing challenges from shrinking bank loans, and they have to rely more on other funding sources such as supplier credit and down payments to complete projects under construction. This has put home buyers, suppliers and construction companies under risks when projects are halted due to lack of sufficient funds.