BEIJING, CHINA / RankWire.AI / – China’s fixed-asset investment experienced a 6.7% year-on-year decrease during the first seven months of 2026, indicating a deepening slowdown across the country’s domestic investment landscape. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, investment excluding rural households totaled 26.03 trillion yuan from January to July. In July alone, investment fell by 1.42% compared to June. During that month, industrial output and retail sales both decelerated. These figures follow a period of slower economic growth in the second quarter.
The property sector remained the primary drag on overall investment, with property development spending dropping 19.2% over the seven-month span. Infrastructure investment decreased by 3.6%, while manufacturing investment declined 1.7%. Private sector investment also fell 9.4% compared to the same period last year. Excluding real estate development, investment still decreased by 3.7%. The data reflect declines across multiple key areas of capital expenditure amid ongoing property market weakness.
Retail sales of consumer goods grew by 0.6% year on year in July, reaching 3.90 trillion yuan, a slowdown from the 1.0% growth observed in June. Industrial production increased by 4.5% in July, down from 5.3% in the previous month. For the first seven months, output rose 5.3% compared to the same period in 2025. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 49.2 in July, declining from 50.3 in June.
Broader investment slowdown extends beyond property
The overall decline in investment widened during the second quarter and into July. Fixed-asset investment fell 1.6% in the first four months, then 4.1% through May. The drop reached 5.7% in the first half of the year before expanding to 6.7% through July. Property-related indicators remained weak, with newly built commercial building floor space sold decreasing 11.8%, and sales by value dropping 13.1% to 4.27 trillion yuan.
Despite the overall downturn, some sectors continued to see growth. Investment in high-tech industries rose 5.0% during the first seven months. Investment in information services increased by 19.2%, aerospace vehicle and equipment manufacturing grew 12.3%, electronic and communication equipment manufacturing climbed 7.1%, and investment in intellectual property products gained 9.1%. High-tech manufacturing output increased 13.8%, and equipment manufacturing output grew 9.7% during the January-July period.
Trade growth persists despite domestic economic slowdown
Foreign trade continued to outperform several domestic indicators. China’s total goods imports and exports reached 30.13 trillion yuan in the first seven months, a 17.3% increase. Exports rose 14.0% to 17.44 trillion yuan, while imports grew 22.0% to 12.69 trillion yuan. In July, exports increased by 17.8% year on year, and imports rose 21.2%. Online retail sales of goods and services expanded by 4.8% through July.
China’s gross domestic product grew 4.7% in the first half of 2026, though growth slowed to 4.3% in the second quarter from 5.0% in the first. Consumer prices increased by 0.5% year on year in July, while the urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2%. In late July, the Communist Party Politburo called for stronger counter-cyclical measures and increased efforts to expand domestic demand, following a slowdown in investment, consumption, and industrial activity.