China Property: Slicing the data slightly differently can yield a more nuanced view of the market - the chart below shows the widely watched official national sales volume data (NBS), here for residential new homes, but split into half-years. 

It illustrates more clearly how the second half of 2020 (rebound from Covid lockdowns) and the first half of 2021 really stood out vs the prior years' equivalents. Now, while the housing market downturn since mid-2021 has been clear, the extent of the declines y/y also reflects the strong base effects. In turn, the second half of 2022 could start looking better in numbers y/y as we will now compare to the weak second half of 2021.