China’s economy expanded 4.6% in the first nine months of 2026 as property investment sank, but the interim figure does not determine whether it will meet Beijing’s full-year growth goal.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported preliminary GDP of 107,107.1 billion yuan for January through September, with the 4.6% growth rate measured at constant prices. The total is stated in yuan, while the growth rate accounts for price changes.
Growth from a year earlier moved from 5% in the first quarter to 4.3% in the second, then 4.5% in the third. Output also increased 1.2% from the second quarter to the third. The 4.5% rate compares the quarter with a year earlier; the 1.2% figure compares it with the preceding quarter.
The government’s 2026 work report, delivered by Premier Li Qiang, set a full-year GDP growth goal of 4.5% to 5%, with an aim of exceeding it. The nine-month rate falls within that band, but covers only part of the year.
An earlier report on third-quarter growth and falling property investment also covered the January–September GDP figures.
Value added at industrial enterprises above designated size grew 5.3% year over year in the first three quarters. High-tech manufacturing increased 14.3%, and equipment manufacturing rose 10.2%.
Over the same period, consumer-goods retail sales advanced 1.1%. Fixed-asset investment excluding rural households fell 7.2%, while real-estate-development investment dropped 20.6%, the NBS reported.
A report on the State Council website quoted NBS deputy commissioner Mao Shengyong as saying economic output increased by 5.7 trillion yuan over the first three quarters. He said the gain was larger than in any comparable period in the past five years.
The NBS identified a continuing shortfall in domestic demand and said the conditions supporting steady growth still needed strengthening.
