What is the expected growth rate for the New Equipment segment in China in the second half of 2021 
ith F. Marks -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so listen, it's a competitive market in China, and we know that. We're also watching really the credit and liquidity situation of the major developers. We're managing effectively through that. Perry and the team are doing a really good job there. And we're deploying IoT and Otis ONE there significantly, again, to help us on conversions.
Second half is going to be a little tougher compared for us, in China, because China came back so quickly post COVID in the second half of 20. So we're going to watch all those factors. But the segment in China, the New Equipment segment is going to grow mid single digits, it's the largest market in the world. Even despite some of the cooling measures that are still in place, we think the market is more balanced and we are going to continue to perform there.
Rahul Ghai -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Steve, there's Just a couple of other things to add related related to China. Really strong start to the year in the market. As Judy said, we expect kind of mid single-digit growth growing into the year, and we think that market growth could be a little bit north of that. So a little bit positive in China than we were at the beginning of the year. And the other thing is that despite all the conversations around property market cooling down, the area under construction in China, the construction area is actually up 11%. So we're seeing strong momentum in the market in China.
Steve Tusa -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst
Right. Okay, thanks.
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Jeff Sprague of Vertical Research.
Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research -- Analyst
Hey, two questions from me if I could. First, I totally understand on kind of the accelerated execution out of the backlog, although the backlog managed to grow despite that. I just wonder if you could speak a little bit, since we don't have a ton of history to go on. Your backlog currently relative to your forward sales expectation, is it on the low medium or kind of about right, relative to what you'd expect as you kind of project existing backlog in the future revenue conversion?
Rahul Ghai -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
So, Good morning, Jeff. So is your question that is our backlog sufficient to drive growth sales in the back half, is that you're trying to tell.
Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research -- Analyst
Well, yeah, I mean clearly in dollars, it is. I'm just thinking about the conversion of backlog to revenues, right. Its going to be all over the map. I would say, right, depending on the type of the project and the like. So just when you think about your revenue guidance for the year, would you say this backlog gives you kind of above or below average comfort in that revenue forecast?
Judith F. Marks -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Listen, Jeff. This gives us, I would say above average confidence when we -- when we met you and everyone last February at our Investor Day, Rahul and I and the team said, our goal was to end '20 with a stronger backlog than we came in, and we did that. We've now, obviously, grown that backlog in '21 in the first quarter. And we've got sufficient backlog now to see us through our, and that's what gives us confidence in our outlook. What we need to do is keep growing that backlog as we end '21 to position us for '22, and that's where we already have the team focused.
Rahul Ghai -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. And typically, we expect our backlog to drive maybe two thirds of the revenue in the year, Jeff, that's kind of our typical standard. And this year, it's going to be north of that. And that's part of the accelerated backlog conversion that we've been talking about is that this year we expect that revenue conversion to be higher. So, and that is where it is really positive to see backlog growing in the first quarter because we did have accelerated backlog conversion over Q1 of last year, driven by better execution in the field to Nigel's question, and higher shipments out o
ith F. Marks -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so listen, it's a competitive market in China, and we know that. We're also watching really the credit and liquidity situation of the major developers. We're managing effectively through that. Perry and the team are doing a really good job there. And we're deploying IoT and Otis ONE there significantly, again, to help us on conversions.
Second half is going to be a little tougher compared for us, in China, because China came back so quickly post COVID in the second half of 20. So we're going to watch all those factors. But the segment in China, the New Equipment segment is going to grow mid single digits, it's the largest market in the world. Even despite some of the cooling measures that are still in place, we think the market is more balanced and we are going to continue to perform there.
Rahul Ghai -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Steve, there's Just a couple of other things to add related related to China. Really strong start to the year in the market. As Judy said, we expect kind of mid single-digit growth growing into the year, and we think that market growth could be a little bit north of that. So a little bit positive in China than we were at the beginning of the year. And the other thing is that despite all the conversations around property market cooling down, the area under construction in China, the construction area is actually up 11%. So we're seeing strong momentum in the market in China.
Steve Tusa -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst
Right. Okay, thanks.
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Jeff Sprague of Vertical Research.
Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research -- Analyst
Hey, two questions from me if I could. First, I totally understand on kind of the accelerated execution out of the backlog, although the backlog managed to grow despite that. I just wonder if you could speak a little bit, since we don't have a ton of history to go on. Your backlog currently relative to your forward sales expectation, is it on the low medium or kind of about right, relative to what you'd expect as you kind of project existing backlog in the future revenue conversion?
Rahul Ghai -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
So, Good morning, Jeff. So is your question that is our backlog sufficient to drive growth sales in the back half, is that you're trying to tell.
 Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research -- Analyst
Well, yeah, I mean clearly in dollars, it is. I'm just thinking about the conversion of backlog to revenues, right. Its going to be all over the map. I would say, right, depending on the type of the project and the like. So just when you think about your revenue guidance for the year, would you say this backlog gives you kind of above or below average comfort in that revenue forecast?
Judith F. Marks -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Listen, Jeff. This gives us, I would say above average confidence when we -- when we met you and everyone last February at our Investor Day, Rahul and I and the team said, our goal was to end '20 with a stronger backlog than we came in, and we did that. We've now, obviously, grown that backlog in '21 in the first quarter. And we've got sufficient backlog now to see us through our, and that's what gives us confidence in our outlook. What we need to do is keep growing that backlog as we end '21 to position us for '22, and that's where we already have the team focused.
Rahul Ghai -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. And typically, we expect our backlog to drive maybe two thirds of the revenue in the year, Jeff, that's kind of our typical standard. And this year, it's going to be north of that. And that's part of the accelerated backlog conversion that we've been talking about is that this year we expect that revenue conversion to be higher. So, and that is where it is really positive to see backlog growing in the first quarter because we did have accelerated backlog conversion over Q1 of last year, driven by better execution in the field to Nigel's question, and higher shipments out o