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hina’s prolonged real‑estate slump is curbing growth and pushing property managers to diversify income, offering services such as senior companionship, medical escorting, and pet walking. In Wuhan, a manager recently tended a family’s chickens while they were away, feeding them, relocating them to an air‑conditioned room when heat‑stroke signs appeared, and diffusing a fight between the birds. The family rewarded him with a banner of thanks. The incident illustrates how managers are stretching beyond traditional duties to survive after years of rapid expansion. Yan Yuejin, deputy head of Shanghai‑based E‑House China R&D Institute, described this as a proactive response to sector pressure and a way to seize new market opportunities. Homeowners increasingly refuse to pay or demand fee cuts as property values fall. According to CRIC Property Management, revenue from the top 500 firms rose 3.7 % last year to 595.4 billion yuan ($83.6 billion), a sharp decline from the 22 % growth seen in 2021 when China’s “three red lines” policy tightened developer borrowing.