Shanghai launches clampdown on property market doom-mongering

Shanghai has launched a crackdown on online content that talks down the property market, as the sector remains mired in a prolonged downturn and two leading data providers pull back on releasing updated sales figures for China’s top developers.\nThe Shanghai branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China said it had instructed platforms including RedNote and Bilibili – often dubbed China’s answer to Instagram and YouTube – to remove content deemed to be spreading misleading or alarmist information about the real estate market.\nThe “special campaign” – which began in mid-November – had already led to the removal of 40,000 posts and caused 70,000 accounts and 1,200 live-streaming rooms to be shut down, the body announced via its official WeChat account on Tuesday.\nSome of the accounts were targeted for using phrases that could spread panic among users, such as “the market is about to crash”, “future sales will be impossible” or “the market will collapse”, according to the notice.\nOthers were accused of exaggerating or misinterpreting housing policies, shaping false market expectations or distorting information about Shanghai’s housing market, it added.\nThe clampdown comes as concerns continue to swirl over China’s real estate market, with investment in the sector falling, sales remaining sluggish, and analysts warning of a possible wave of foreclosures that could put further downward pressure on home prices.\nMeanwhile, two of the country’s top private real estate data providers – China Real Estate Information Corp and China Index Academy – have added to the unease by not publishing their usual monthly reports on the top 100 developers’ sales for November.\nIf expectations management fails, it could trigger broader risks such as widespread mortgage defaults and a surge in foreclosures\nPeng Peng, Guangdong Society of Reform\nThe firms offered no explanation, but Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the two agencies had been told by China’s housing bureau to stop making such figures publicly available for the time being.\nPeng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform think tank, said the government’s recent actions showed that expectations management remained crucial for the property market.\n“If expectations management fails, it could trigger broader risks such as widespread mortgage defaults and a surge in foreclosures,” he said.\nIn its post, Shanghai’s cyberspace regulator said it would continue to intensify efforts to clamp down on property market-related misinformation and update the public on the campaign’s progress.\nAccording to Peng, recent transaction volume data indicated that the market was showing some signs of stabilising, although housing prices had yet to break their downward trend. The market also varied a lot by region, with a few projects still seeing strong demand, he added.\nShanghai’s secondary housing market has picked up slightly in recent weeks. The city recorded 22,943 sales of second-hand homes in November, a 24 per cent increase from October and the highest monthly total since May, according to data cited by the domestic media outlet Jiemian News.\nHowever, some Chinese developers remain under intense pressure. Vanke, one of the country’s biggest property companies, had its credit rating downgraded last week after the firm proposed extending repayment for a 2 billion yuan (US$282 million) onshore bond.\nReal estate investment also continues to decline. Investment was down 14.7 per cent year on year in the first 10 months of 2025, a slight acceleration from the 13.9 per cent fall recorded in the first nine months.\nLou Jiwei, a former Chinese finance minister, cautioned last month that the property slump could continue to act as a drag on China’s economic growth for another five years, as the market had still not bottomed out.\nAuthorities have tried to revive demand by gradually easing property purchase restrictions originally put in place to prevent speculative investment. Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen all relaxed buying limits between August and September, after Guangzhou became the first major city to fully scrap such curbs earlier this year.\n