China Calls for France to Help Resolve Trade Differences With EU
China called on France to help resolve trade differences with the European Union, as Beijing seeks to shore up ties with the bloc amid simmering tensions with the US.
'It is normal to have differences in bilateral economic and trade cooperation, but the key is to resolve them through equal dialog and consultation,' Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin in Paris on the sidelines of a WTO ministerial meeting, according to a statement by China's commerce ministry.
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CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
China's property sector has been in an extended slump. Shrinking population is making it worse
China's real estate sector has grappled with a deepening downturn for years. Now a shrinking population is casting another shadow over the stagnant property market. Goldman Sachs estimates that demand for new homes in Chinese urban cities will remain suppressed at under 5 million units per year in the coming years — one fourth of the peak of 20 million units in 2017. "Falling population and slowing urbanization suggest decreasing demographic demand for housing" in the coming years, Goldman Sachs economists said in a note Monday. The country's population is estimated to fall to below 1.39 billion by 2035 from 1.41 billion, according to World Bank's latest data, said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at Economist Intelligence Unit, citing a combination of fewer newborns and more deaths from an ageing population. Shrinking population will cripple home demand by 0.5 million units every year in the 2020s and a lead to a bigger dent of 1.4 million units annually in the 2030s, Goldman Sachs estimates, compared to the positive contribution of 1.5 million units in the 2010s when population was on a steady rise. Fertility rate in the country has continued to fall even after Beijing relaxed its one-child policy in 2016, and despite Beijing's efforts to incentivize child-bearing via cash incentives. Stagnant incomes, instability over job prospects and a poor social security system have dissuaded Chinese young people from having more babies. Beijing's pronatalist policies will likely have "limited effect" as they do not address the deep-rooted issues, Xu said, such as high economic costs for child-bearing and people's tendency to postpone marriage for career progression and "an embrace of individuality." Underscoring the declining birth rates, nearly 36,000 kindergartens across the country closed down over the past two years, with the number of students in preschools falling by over 10 million. That's according to CNBC's calculation of the official data released the Ministry of Education. Similarly, the number of elementary schools dropped by nearly 13,000 between 2022 and 2024. That is rippling through school-adjacent housing markets that once saw inflated prices on the back of strong demand for better public schools. The once-sizable premium was fueled by access to elite schools and expectations of rising property values. But with a shrinking population and local governments scaling back district-based enrollment policies, the added value of these homes has started diminishing, according to William Wu, China property analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets. A mother of a 7-year-old boy in Beijing told CNBC that the price of her apartment had fallen by about 20% from over two years ago when she bought it. It cost her roughly twice the average price for an apartment in the city, so that her son could attend a good elementary school. The number of children entering primary school in 2023 reached the highest level in over two decades, according to Wind Information, before dropping in 2024, the year her son enrolled. That demographic shift is an additional overhang to the property market, which has struggled to emerge from a painful downturn since late 2020. Despite a raft of central and local government measures since last September, the real estate slump has shown little sign of abating. New home prices fell at their fastest pace in seven months in May, according to Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, extending a two-year stagnation, despite the government efforts aimed at arresting the decline. New home sales in 30 major cities fell by 11% year on year in the first half of this month, worsening from the 3% drop in May, Hu said. "Holders of investment properties are likely to be net sellers (to owner-occupiers) for the foreseeable future," over expectations that home prices will continue to fall, Goldman Sachs estimates. While Goldman expects the rise in China's urbanization rate to temper in the coming years, hurting urban housing demand, Wu said demographic drag on the property market was not yet "imminent" and may take decades to play out. In the nearer term, "some of this decline will be offset by continued urbanization, and housing upgrade demand," Wu said, as the latter would account for an increasing share of China's total housing demand.
Business Insider
6 hours ago
- Business Insider
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San Francisco Chronicle
8 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Florian Wirtz joins list of most expensive soccer signings in history
Florian Wirtz became one of the most expensive players in soccer history when the Germany playmaker joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen on Friday for a fee of up to 116 million pounds ($156 million). Neymar: $262 million (222 million euros) Paris Saint-Germain shattered the world-record transfer fee by signing the Brazil superstar from Barcelona in August 2017. It was more than double the outlay of Manchester United to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus for $116 million a year earlier. It remains the record transfer fee. ___ Kylian Mbappé: $216 million (180 million euros) A few weeks after buying Neymar, PSG also secured a loan deal for Mbappé — then the rising star of French soccer playing for Monaco — that included the option to make the move permanent in 2018. PSG did so, making it an outlay of nearly $500 million on two players. ___ Flush with cash after selling Neymar a year earlier, Barcelona spent most of it in a deal to buy Brazil playmaker Coutinho from Liverpool for a Spanish record fee. ___ Moises Caicedo: $146 million (115 million pounds) The Ecuador midfielder's move was previously the most expensive deal by a British club, with Chelsea buying him from Brighton in August 2023. ___ João Félix: $140 million (126 million euros) Atletico Madrid triggered a buyout clause in Félix's contract to sign the Portugal forward from Benfica in August 2019. ___ Jude Bellingham: $139 million (128.5 million euros) The England star got his big move to Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund in June 2023, for an initial up-front fee of 103 million euros plus add-ons linked to performance. ___ Antoine Griezmann: $134 million (120 million euros) Atletico could afford to sign Félix after selling France forward Griezmann to Barcelona for a similar fee a few weeks earlier. ___ Neymar: $98 million (90 million euros) Outside from Europe, the biggest transfer deal also involved Neymar when he joined Al Hilal, a team in the Saudi Pro League, from Paris Saint-Germain in August 2023. That came at the height of Saudi Arabia's push to sign high-end soccer talent to ignite the oil-rich state's domestic league. ___
