Property Downturn Could Weigh on China GDP Growth, USB Says

        0540 GMT [Dow Jones] A sharp property downturn in China might lead to much lower growth this year, says UBS. "There is a 15% probability that a sharp property downturn could lead to GDP growth dropping to 5+% in 2015," the bank says. "Construction volume could drop significantly even if prices did not fall much and people merely stopped buying new properties for investment purpose." A 10-percentage-point drop in the growth of construction volume would knock 2.5ppt off GDP growth as property investment accounts for almost a quarter of fixed investment in China, according to UBS's estimates. (jacky.wong@wsj.com; Twitter: @jackycwong)
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        May 05, 2014 01:41 ET (05:41 GMT)