China’s property woes to lower GDP for several years: economist

China’s property market woes will cut approximately 1.5 percentage points off the nation’s GDP growth, leading to “subpar rates” for at least six years, Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Asia Pacific chief economist of Natixis, told FinanceAsia.

Country Garden, China’s biggest developer by sales, is on the brink of default, having narrowly made a payment on its foreign debt this month. Meanwhile, China Evergrande Group formerly the biggest property developer in the market, filed for US bankruptcy protections in August.

Real estate and its associated industries such as steel and cement production, as well as household appliances represent nearly half of China’s gross domestic product GDP, Derrick...