China's economy shows sparks of life, despite persisting weakness in troubled real estate sector

abcnews.go.com:

China has reported its economic growth showed more signs of rekindling in October as retail sales and factory output picked up even though the property sector remained sluggish

BEIJING — China's economy showed more signs of reviving in October as retail sales and manufacturing picked up though the property sector remained sluggish, the government said Wednesday.

Factory output rose 4.6% from a year earlier in October, while retail sales jumped 7.6%, helped by robust spending during the weeklong National Day holidays.

But real estate investment sank 9.3%, and officials acknowledged that the industry was still in the “midst of adjustment,” after a crackdown on excessive borrowing by developers two years ago, coupled with the pandemic, plunged the industry into crisis.

Disruptions to manufacturing, transport, travel and virtually every other aspect of life during the pandemic ended nearly a year ago when China's leaders abandoned their “zero-COVID” policies aimed at preventing infections.

So improved economic data from October also reflect lower rates of growth a year earlier. Overall, China's recovery from the pandemic has been fitful, though recently activity has revived, leading many economists to upgrade their estimates for growth this year to above the government's target of about 5%.

China’s economy slowed in the summer as global demand for its exports faltered and the property sector deteriorated further. The economy expanded at a 4.9% annual pace in July-September, beating analysts’ forecasts of about 4.5%, official data show. But that was much slower than the 6.3% annual growth rate of the previous quarter.

The recent evidence that the world’s No. 2 economy is again gaining steam comes just as President Xi