China’s Housing Crisis Deepens in May: What Will (and Can) Beijing Do About It (Hint, Probably not Much)? Plus, the Ongoing Property Slump is Undermining Local Government Finances: China will soon enter the fourth year of what has seemed to be a never-ending real estate downturn. This slump began in August of 2021, when the government initiated a regulatory crackdown on developer debt and speculative home purchases to deflate the bubble in the property market. Home prices are estimated to have fallen 21-30% between their 2021 peak and the start of this year . The first five months of 2025 has seen no break in this downward trend; indeed, a June 15 th Bloomberg report indicates that the decline in the price of residential real estate accelerated somewhat in May. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on June 9 th , new home prices in 70 Chinese cities fell 0.22% in May from April, when they dipped 0...