China's industrial output, investment continue to slow

Home sales saw 2.2-percent year-on-year growth in the January-August period from a decline of 0.5 percent in the first seven months of the year, the NBS said Sunday.

During the January-August period, real estate investment expanded 15.6 percent year on year to 4.4 trillion yuan, accelerating by 0.2 percentage points from the January-July level.

Slowing property investment and flagging exports cooled China's economic growth to 7.6 percent in the second quarter, the slowest rate since the first quarter of 2009.

Chinese authorities have moved more cautiously to address the downturn than they did during the global financial crisis of 2008.

A 4-trillion-yuan stimulus investment plan announced by the government in late 2008 pumped up the Chinese economy but also resulted in massive local government debt and set back efforts to restructure the economy toward a more consumption-driven model.

This time, China has instead cut taxes for small businesses, encouraged private businesses to invest in sectors previously closed to them and fast-tracked construction projects.

Last week, China's top economic planner approved 55 investment projects worth 1 trillion yuan ($157.7 billion) to build highways, ports and railways across the country.

Both Zhang and Liu said investment growth will stabilize due to the efforts, although Wang doubted that the projects will receive adequate funds and called for further monetary easing and more fiscal support.

Economic growth may slow to 7.4 percent in the third quarter and, without more aggressive policies, could fall below the government's 7.5-percent target for the year, Wang said.