Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    CHINA’S stock market resumed a steep decline last week and caused widespread concern about the health of the country’s economy, but a global commercial property services company assured investors that any direct impact on the commercial property market was limited.

    A crash in Chinese stocks does not reveal much about real economic conditions in China, and the average company in China does not depend on the local stock market for financing, Jones Lang LaSalle’s researchers said Friday.

    China is moving toward a consumption-based economy. During the stock market boom, there was no corresponding boost in retail sales or consumption. Similarly, investors cannot expect a negative effect on retail sales from the stock market decline, the company said.

    In the office sector, the company noted that wealth management firms and financial companies with stock market exposure account for only a small share of occupied space in first-tier markets such as Beijing and Shenzhen. In Beijing, for example, only about 1 percent of space is directly attributable to the brokerage and wealth management industries.

    Growth in fast-expanding sectors such as IT will quickly absorb any space that becomes available. The start-up world continues to grow at a strong pace and is on its way to becoming an engine of economic growth for China, the company believes.

    However, second and third-tier cities will face similar challenges such as sluggish demand similar to before the stock market crash, the company said.