Eyes on Chinese housing markets

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Tuesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>And today we lead with news it will be worth keeping an eye on Chinese housing sales in September.</p><p>But first we should note that the rest of the world has basically had its feet up overnight, and there is little new data, or events to report.</p><p>China has nothing to say (because it won't say anything unless it is 'good'), and the US and Canada are making the most of their long weekend holiday. Europe has nothing special to report, and Japan seems out to lunch too.</p><p>Probably best you just skim the data updates below and move on to other stuff today!</p><p>If you really want to know, we can report that the <a href="https://www.seco.admin.ch/seco/de/home/wirtschaftslage---wirtschaftspolitik/Wirtschaftslage/bip-quartalsschaetzungen-.html" target="_blank"><strong>Swiss GDP</strong></a> grew +0.5% in Q2 from a year ago, unchanged from Q1. But that has no implications for New Zealand of course.</p><p>Or we can report that <a href="https://www.destatis.de/EN/Press/2023/09/PE23_347_51.html" target="_blank"><strong>German exports fell</strong></a> -0.9% in July from June to be -1% delow of the same month a year go.</p><p>Or we can report that major <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Chinese-retailers-speed-up-closings-as-online-shopping-takes-hold" target="_blank"><strong>Chinese retailers are shutting down stores</strong></a> at a faster pace as they are unable to lure back customers who switched to online shopping during pandemic lockdowns.</p><p>Or that <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/g20-summit-xi-jinpings-no-show-marks-shift-from-statesman-to-china-emperor/articleshow/103337964.cms" target="_blank"><strong>President Xi is skipping the G20 meeting in India</strong></a>, a break from his habit of attending every G20 leaders’ summit since taking powe