China’s property slump has deepened official data showed, with new home prices seeing their biggest month-on-month decline since 2015, while new construction starts in January to October also fell 7.7%, compared to a year earlier. 

The country’s property market has been shaken in recent months as real estate giant Evergrande struggles to keep up interest payments on its huge debts. China has also been hit by a new wave of Covid cases and major power cuts. 

The 0.2% drop in new home prices in October was the biggest fall seen in China since February 2015. It also marks the first decline in new home prices since March 2015. 

Sentiment in China’s property market, which accounts for about a quarter of the country’s economic activity, has been rocked as major property developers grapple with huge debts. The industry has come under intense scrutiny as fears continue over the future of companies including real estate giant Evergrande. 

Last week, Evergrande, which is saddled with around £223bn of debt, avoided defaulting on overdue interest payments of $148m. Just days before a 30-day grace period on the payments was set to expire it sold a 5.7% stake in media firm HengTen Networks Group for around $145m.