BEIJING - China's value-added industrial output increased by 5.6 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2026, official data showed on Monday.

In April alone, industrial output grew 4.1 percent year-on-year, and rose 0.05 percent compared to the previous month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan ($2.92 million).

In terms of sectors, the value added output of the mining sector increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year in the first four months of the year, while that of the manufacturing sector grew by 5.8 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply sectors went up by 4.5 percent, the data showed. 

Retail sales

The retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, expanded 1.9 percent year-on-year in the first four months, Monday's data showed.  

Fixed-asset investment

Meanwhile, China's fixed-asset investment went down 1.6 percent year-on-year in the first four months, according to the data.

The investment totaled 14.13 trillion yuan during the period, the bureau said.

Breakdown data showed infrastructure investment grew 4.3 percent year-on-year, while manufacturing investment increased 1.2 percent over the same period of last year, according to the data.

Excluding the property sector, the country's fixed-asset investment rose 1.3 percent in the first four months. Meanwhile, investment in property development slumped 13.7 percent year-on-year. 

Home prices in first-tier cities

On the housing market, home prices in the first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, increased last month compared with March, while second- and third-tier cities reported narrowed price declines or unchanged price levels, said the bureau.

Property investment

In the first four months, the investment in property development decreased, down 13.7 percent year-on-year, according to the bureau's data.

The floor space of newly-built commercial buildings sold was 252.58 million square meters, down by 10.2 percent year-on-year. The total sales of newly-built commercial buildings were 2.3 trillion yuan, down by 14.6 percent.

Urban unemployment 

The official data also indicated that the surveyed urban unemployment rate in China stood at 5.2 percent in April, 0.2 percentage points lower than that of the previous month.