Housing market data added to Beijing’s challenge to meet the 5% GDP growth target for 2025. China’s House Price Index fell 3.2% year-on-year in June after dropping 3.5% in May. While the year-on-year trend signaled an improving housing market, other housing sector data painted a gloomier picture.

China’s Q2 GDP growth met government targets at 5.2% YoY, but the recovery remains uneven beneath the headline numbers. High-tech manufacturing and services are driving growth, while real estate and retail sectors continue to struggle, highlighting structural challenges.

China's economy is likely to have cooled in the second quarter after a solid start to the year, as trade tensions and a prolonged property downturn drag on demand, raising pressure on policymakers to roll out additional stimulus to underpin growth.

Looming U.S. tariffs, together with a real estate market slump feeding into weakening consumer confidence, saw China's GDP growth slow in the second quarter.

In the first half of the year, the world's second-largest economy expanded by 5.3 percent, the NBS said Tuesday.

China’s economy posts supply-driven 5.2pc growth in Q2Chinese exports show resilience to US tariffsBut other indicators point to rising vulnerabilitiesPressure on jobs