The operational status of the national economy for 2025 was recently released. Over the past year, China's economy advanced under pressure, developing towards innovation and quality, successfully achieving its main expected targets. The annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpassed the 140 trillion yuan mark for the first time, recording a year-on-year growth of 5%. At the recent "2026 China Economic Situation Analysis Conference" hosted by China News Service's "National Express", multiple experts and scholars conducted analysis and interpretation, focusing on topics such as consumption, investment, foreign trade, and the property market.
Expanding domestic demand is currently a key focus of policy efforts. In 2025, China's total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 50 trillion yuan, growing 3.7% compared to the previous year, placing its scale at the forefront of the global retail market. The contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth was 52%, an increase of 5 percentage points from the previous year. "Against the backdrop of profoundly complex and changing development conditions, this report card is satisfactory," stated Zhang Ying, Vice Dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. He believes that human development is the core driver of consumption; when consumers possess sufficient purchasing power and willingness to consume, producers will optimize products and services from multiple angles, rather than competing on a single dimension.
Zhang Ying indicated that the lack of consumption scenarios and willingness, coupled with a relatively low proportion of labor income, are current difficulties that need to be addressed to boost consumption. Resources should be directed towards areas that "invest in people," such as education, employment, healthcare, and social security. This approach can not only unleash long-term consumption potential but also serve as a driving force to break the cycle of "involution."
From an investment perspective, the national fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) in 2025 reached 48.5186 trillion yuan. After deducting real estate development investment, it decreased by 0.5% year-on-year. Within this, manufacturing investment grew by 0.6%. In high-tech industries, investment in information services, and aircraft, spacecraft, and equipment manufacturing grew by 28.4% and 16.9% respectively. "Although overall fixed asset investment has slowed somewhat, the rise in manufacturing investment highlights China's firm determination to promote industrial upgrading and technological innovation during this economic transition period, which aligns with the requirements of high-quality development," Zhang Ying commented.
Chen Wenling, Deputy Director of the Academic Committee and former Chief Economist of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, believes that the shift towards innovation and quality reflects the continuous optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. Traditional industries are increasing investment to drive transformation, strategic emerging industries are accelerating the formation of industrial and supply chain clusters, and the development of future industries such as quantum computing, industrial robots, artificial intelligence, and large models is also speeding up.
In 2025, China's goods imports and exports grew steadily, with the trade structure continuously optimizing. The total value of goods imports and exports for the year reached 45.4687 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%. Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, stated that China's advantages in foreign trade will persist. This advantage is not merely about pursuing the expansion of export scale, but rather, through its own stability, helping trade partners better hedge against uncertainties in the external environment.
"Innovative exploration in new technologies and new factor areas has created favorable conditions for the new development of foreign trade. Beyond goods trade, China possesses stronger development momentum in service trade and digital trade. As trade methods evolve, the efficiency of trade supply will be further enhanced," Zhou Mi said.
In the housing sector, significant progress was made in urban renewal in 2025, the task of ensuring housing delivery was fully completed, and the construction of "good houses" gained initial momentum. Wu Jing, Director of the Real Estate Research Center at Tsinghua University, stated that in 2025, the policy toolkit for both the supply and demand sides of the real estate market continued to improve, creating a favorable policy environment for market recovery. Furthermore, marginal improvement measures are still being rolled out and will work synergistically.
"China's new model for real estate development has gradually become clear," Wu Jing said. On one hand, real estate is further returning to its fundamental attribute of benefiting people's livelihoods. On the other hand, urban development has shifted from large-scale incremental expansion to a stage dominated by existing stock, closely integrated with urban renewal. This shift objectively provides substantial development opportunities for traditional industries, including real estate and construction.
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