Think-tank cuts forecast for Chinese economy

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) cut its economic growth forecast to 7.3 percent this year and 7 percent in 2015.

The figures are 0.1 percentage point lower than the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates. China's official target set in March was 7.5 percent for this year.

China's "new normal" economy has slowed, but the slowdown is good for sustainable growth, said Li Yang, vice head of CASS.

A CASS report on Friday - The Chinese Economy: Situation, Analysis and Prediction - mainly attributed the slowdown to deceleration in real estate investment. The property sector takes about a quarter of all investment.

Though the government is investing heavily in infrastructure, this failed to offset the drop in property investment resulting from financing constraints and low rates of return.

The report forecast that the economy will slow to 7 percent in 2015, with investment growth falling to 14.1 percent. On Tuesday, the IMF kept its forecast unchanged at 7.4 percent for 2014 and 7.1 percent for 2015. HSBC on Friday predicted growth of 7.5 percent this year.

The housing market, once a driver for the economy, is increasingly becoming a drag. Property investment--with knock-on effects in more than 40 other sectors from cement and steel to furniture--rose 13.2 percent in the first eight months, less than the 13.7 percent rise in the first seven months, the seventh straight month of decline.

China's economy grew 7.7 percent in 2013, steady from 2012, but the lowest level since 2001. In the first half of 2014, the economy expanded 7.4 percent from a year earlier. Third-quarter economic data is expected on Oct. 21.