China’s economy grew at a reasonable pace in May as some indicators showed signs of a recovery, a senior official at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday, Reuters reported. Zhang Zhibin, a senior statistician at population and employment statistics division, was quoted as saying on the NBS website that China’s survey-based urban jobless rate had eased slightly to around 5.1% in May. In recent weeks, China’s housing sector started showing signs of recovery after more than a year of nationwide declines in home prices, home sales and real estate-related investment. The reversal comes after Beijing relaxed mortgage restrictions for second and third homes and enacted policies that include allowing local governments to swap outstanding loans for low-interest, slow-maturing local bonds. In the coming months, these measures will help stabilize real estate markets in major cities. The short-term gains in home prices and sales, however, should not be mistaken for a recovery of either the housing market or the national economy.
