China’s economic growth continued to slow in the third quarter, falling to its slowest pace of the year, official data released today, amid a lingering, multi-year housing crisis.

The statistics were released on the first day of a key meeting of the party-state’s top officials, who will discuss the direction of the Asian giant over the next five years for four days starting today.

China’s GDP growth in the July-September period weakened to 4.8% year-on-year, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, slowing significantly compared to the previous quarter (+5.2%).

China’s economy is struggling to overcome a long-running housing crisis that is weighing on the finances of local cooperatives and hurting household confidence, amid continued tensions with the US over trade.

The leading indicator of consumption, retail sales growth, also slowed significantly in September (+3% year-on-year), according to official data.

This is the slowest pace since November 2024.

A positive sign, however, is the increase in industrial production by 6.5% in September on an annual basis, according to the service, at a pace much faster than analysts polled by the Bloomberg news agency had predicted (5%).

“The national economy resisted the pressure and continued (…) steady progress,” the agency said in a statement, a comment that covers the first three quarters as a whole.

However, the slowdown in GDP growth is expected to continue in the fourth quarter, predicts Jiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, who sees the slowdown in investment as cause for “alarm”.