Home Depot closes China stores as DIY is DOA – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | September 17, 2012

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• Home Depot closes China stores as DIY is DOA

  Home Depot Inc, the largest home-improvement retailer in the United States, said it is closing its remaining seven big box stores in China as it shifts its focus to specialty and online outlets in the world’s second-largest economy. The move will affect about 850 employees, and the company will record an after-tax charge of about $160 million, or 10 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter, it said in a statement issued on Thursday.

• Chinese Real Estate Debt Draws Investor Attention

  Heavy investor interest in bonds issued recently by China’s recovering real estate sector suggests that the worst could be over for developers.  Despite concerns at the beginning of this year that some developers were at risk of defaulting as a result of government tightening on the real estate sector, things have begun to look up.

• Wharf to Launch 60,000 Sqm Shanghai Residential Project

  Wharf (Holdings) (0004) is set to launch its first joint project with Hangzhou- based Greentown China Holdings (3900) after becoming the debt-ridden developer’s No2 shareholder in June. A consortium of Wharf, Greentown and Sunac China Holdings (1918) has won the bid to develop a 60,205-square- meter Shanghai residential site for 834 million yuan (HK$1.02 billion). Wharf will hold a 50-percent stake in the project, while a Greentown-Sunac joint venture will hold the rest.

• Shadow Bankers Vanishing Leave China Victims Seeing Scams

  To live out his retirement years, He Zhongkui was counting on steady income from an investment that promised interest payments five times higher than what he could earn in a Chinese bank. Now He, a 62-year-old former municipal official in Wenzhou who rides a rusty bicycle, is cutting back on food and gasoline, having found himself one of a growing number of victims of China’s nebulous world of shadow banking.

This list is updated daily, so tune in again tomorrow for more up to date information, or subscribe to our daily email news digest to get this delivered to your mailbox.