(Reuters) - J.P. Morgan said on Tuesday China's residential property market could see a sharper-than-expected slump this year following downbeat government sales and investment data for the sector.
Analysts at the brokerage now expect China's residential sales value for fiscal 2023 to contract 10%, compared with a 4% drop estimated earlier.
Investments into China's property market fell for a 17th consecutive month in July and home sales declined, official data showed on Tuesday, as a deepening debt crisis weighs on the sector.
A broad set of China data on Tuesday painted a grim picture of the world's second largest economy, prompting Beijing to cut key policy rates to shore up growth. Analysts have said more support is needed to revitalise the country's economy.
Lisheng Wang, economist at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), said he expects two 25-basis-point cuts to the Reserve Requirement Ratio later this year — in September, and the last quarter ending December.
J.P. Morgan said while policy easing would intensify at the local level, it might only stabilize sentiment temporarily and was not likely not trigger any strong recovery in the near term.