In China, retail sales and industrial production came in better than expected in October.

The Chinese economy performed better than expected in October, with retail sales and industrial output coming in better than expected, easing concerns that the downturn in the real estate sector is spreading. According to the data released by the National Statistics Office, industrial production increased by 3.5 percent in October compared to the same period last year. This increase was above the performance in September and the expectations of economists.

Retail sales growth accelerated to 4.9 percent, surpassing the 3.7 percent estimate in Bloomberg’s survey of economists. The increase in fixed capital investments slowed down to 6.1 percent in the first ten months of the year. The expectation was that this data would increase by 6.2 percent. The unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent.

House Prices Fell

The better-than-expected data is considered a comforting factor after the momentum in the economy weakened in the second half of the year as both demand and supply remained under pressure.

The restrictions imposed by the Beijing administration on the real estate market slowed the flow of credit to the sector, which covers 25 percent of the economy. At the same time, energy shortages led to a decrease in production in the factories.

The National Statistics Office said in a statement, “The national economy is generally stable and continues its recovery trend. But we must be aware that the international environment is still complex and challenging due to many unstable and uncertain factors.”

According to another data announced by the institution, housing prices decreased by 0.25 percent in October compared to the previous month. This decline is well above the fall in September.