Floor space of completed buildings in China 1998-2023

In 2023, real estate developers in China completed 998.31 million square meters of floor space, representing a significant rise of more than 16 percent from the previous year. Housing completion figures in China have remained generally stable in the last decade, except for a drop in 2022 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and structural challenges in the real estate industry. The ups and downs of the Chinese real estate market Following the marketization of the housing sector in the late 1990s, China's real estate industry has enjoyed more than two decades of prosperity. The output value of the sector multiplied several times, with home prices rising sharply across the country and some properties in urban centers such as Beijing and Shanghai being among the most expensive in the world. While being a pillar industry in the country’s economy, the real estate sector has also stimulated the development of many related industries, such as construction and financial services. The property bubble and unfinished buildings The continuous expansion of the housing market has created a considerable bubble in the sector, which is increasingly seen as unsustainable by prospective homebuyers in China. Many apartments, especially the tower blocks in small or medium-sized cities and towns remained unsold or left unoccupied, leading to financial turmoil for real estate developers. The failure of major market players such as China Evergrande and Country Garden resulted in more than a million unfinished apartments in China.

于2023年，中国房地产开发商完成了998.31百万平方米的建筑面积，较上年同期实现了超过16%的显著增长。在过去十年中，中国住房竣工数量总体保持稳定，但受COVID-19疫情及房地产行业结构性挑战影响，2022年出现下滑。自20世纪90年代末住房领域市场化以来，中国房地产行业已享受了超过二十年的繁荣。该领域的产出价值数倍增长，全国房价急剧攀升，北京、上海等城市中心的一些房产甚至成为全球最昂贵的房产之一。作为国家经济的重要支柱产业，房地产行业亦推动了众多相关行业的发展，如建筑业和金融服务。房产泡沫与未完工建筑持续扩张的住房市场在行业内形成了一个相当大的泡沫，这一现象日益被中国潜在的购房者视为不可持续。许多公寓，尤其是中小城市和城镇的塔楼，仍处于未售或空置状态，导致房地产开发商面临财务困境。中国恒大、碧桂园等主要市场参与者的失败，导致中国超过一百万套公寓未完工。