Following on from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s dodgy take on Chinese growth yesterday, below find a series of charts that lay out what’s going on as rough guide. First, China’s greatest headwind is the property market, from Macquarie, sales have had a modest bounce but starts are tanking:
This is because property inventory remains very high. Fiscal spending is rising to offset this headwind:
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But it can’t force any rebound. It is not big enough. Public spending is itself hamstrung by weak property as local government’s cannot raise money through land sales and infrastructure is considerably smaller than wider construction anyway, from Morgan Stanley:
