China property sector major drag on economy; contracts for 4th straight qtr

China’s property downturn showed little signs of improvement in the three months through June, with its output contracting for the fourth straight quarter and clouding the growth outlook for the rest of the year. 
 

Output in the real estate industry, a key economic contributor, contracted 7% in the second quarter from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a report Saturday. It remained the biggest drag on the world’s second-largest economy among all sectors, and performed worse than the first quarter of 2022, when it decreased by 2%, the report showed. 

Fresh strains on the sector has