China's economy grows 4.5% in third quarter as property investment slumps

China's gross domestic product grew 4.6 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2026, reaching 107,107.1 billion yuan at constant prices, the National Bureau of Statistics said on October 19. Growth was 5.0 percent in the first quarter, 4.3 percent in the second and 4.5 percent in the third. Compared with the second quarter, output rose 1.2 percent.

Industry and services both grew faster than the economy as a whole. Value added of industrial enterprises above designated size rose 5.3 percent in the first nine months, and value added of the service sector rose 5.2 percent.

Trade was the strongest area. Total goods trade reached 39,939.9 billion yuan, up 18.8 percent year on year, with exports rising 16.4 percent to 23,197.9 billion yuan and imports rising 22.3 percent to 16,742.0 billion yuan.

Domestic demand remained weaker. Retail sales of goods and services rose 2.6 percent. Fixed-asset investment, excluding rural households, fell 7.2 percent to 33,411.5 billion yuan, and investment in real estate development declined 20.6 percent. Consumer prices rose 0.9 percent over the period, and the surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.2 percent. Per capita disposable income rose 5.3 percent in nominal terms and 4.4 percent after adjusting for prices.

The nine-month pace sits near the lower end of the government's full-year growth target of 4.5 to 5.0 percent, according to Trading Economics. China's industrial output and import demand are closely watched by commodity and currency markets as signals of global demand for raw materials.