China has experienced a period of unprecedented growth in recent years. It is now the world’s largest economy, mainly due to the sheer size of its population. However, a rampant economy is not always a good thing, and much effort recently has gone into slowing down the markets in China. What impact has this had on the real estate market specifically?

In a nutshell: china’s property market has been slowing down considerably, however, this has not deterred long-term investors who see this as a favorable time to buy. Government initiatives have been behind much of the slowdown – tighter credit guidelines and other measures were introduced by the Chinese government last year, and they finally seem to be having an effect on the economy and Chinese real estate investment. In 2007, the interest rate was raised six times in an attempt to curb spending and tighten up on the economy generally. In more intricate measures, the minimum reserve ratio of commercial banks has been increased, and the tax system has undergone great change. Before these measures were introduced, property had been a runaway freight train, with property at the upper end of the market in high demand, and some prices up 50% in a very short time. Shenzhen, one of the more populous areas, had real estate prices inflated by around 20%. The peak of property sales was in November last year, and the numbers have been falling ever since, according to the governments index on the state of the Chinese real estate market.