China Evergrande is staying at the top of the bad news list in 2022
The top stories of 2022 continue some top themes of the old year, with China Evergrande telling investors in its wealth management products that they will have to wait for repayment and mainland developers facing near $200 billion credit obligations this month.
Also in the news, Samsung Life has completed its acquisition of a quarter-stake in Savills Investment Management and China’s housing market is showing signs of stabilising as home prices level off.
Evergrande Sets Schedule for Wealth Management Repayments
China Evergrande Group on Friday dialled back plans to repay investors in its wealth management products, in a move that highlights the deepening liquidity squeeze at the property developer that has failed to meet its offshore debt obligations.
Evergrande, whose $19 billion in international bonds are deemed to be in cross-default by rating agencies after the developer missed a deadline to pay coupons earlier this month, did not pay offshore coupons due earlier this week. The developer has been scrambling to raise cash by selling assets and shares to repay suppliers and creditors. Read more>>
Mainland Developers Faces $197B in Debt Obligations in January
China’s property developers have mounting bills to pay in January and shrinking options to raise necessary funds.
The industry will need to find at least $197 billion to cover maturing bonds, coupons, trust products and deferred wages to millions of migrant workers, according to Bloomberg calculations and analyst estimates. Beijing has urged builders like China Evergrande Group to meet payrolls by month-end in order to avoid the risk of social unrest. Read more>>
Samsung Life Completes Acquisition of 25% of Savills IM
Savills Investment Management on 31 December announced the completion of Samsung Life’s acquisition of a 25 percent stake in the company for £63.75 million ($86.26 million) in cash and an agreement to commit capital of US$1 billion over the next four years.
The commitment by the Korean insurer and its real estate asset management subsidiary, Samsung SRA also provides Samsung with options to increase its interest in Savills IM by a further 10 percent during the first four years depending on the scale and pace of its capital commitments. Read more>>
China New Home Price Declines Slowed in December
China’s December new home prices declined at a slower pace compared with a month earlier, a private-sector survey showed on Saturday, offering a tentative sign of stabilising demand after authorities took steps to avert a hard landing for the market.
New home prices in 100 cities fell 0.02per cent in December from a month earlier, narrowing from the 0.04per cent drop in November, according to data from China Index Academy, one of the country’s largest independent real estate research firms. Read more>>
Mainland Home Sales Expected to Recover in the New Year
Transactions may return to China’s housing market in 2022, most noticeably in the country’s four first-tier tentpole cities, as relaxations in both monetary policy and market-dampening measures attract genuine buyers to re-enter the fray.
Median home prices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen may rise by no more than 5 per cent – the level that triggers alarms about property bubbles, which sends policymakers into overdrive – in the new year, as financing pledged by monetary authorities help leveraged developers get their projects back on track, while genuine homebuyers get their mortgage loans. Read more>>
Mumbai New Property Sales Jumped 70% in 2021
Mumbai saw total property sale registrations of 111,552 in 2021, which was some 70 percent higher than 2020 and 45 percent above the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
In December 2021 alone the market recorded registrations of 9,320 units, which was 23 percent above the November total. Within the Mumbai metropolitan area, the western suburbs dominated with 53 percent of total home sales, followed by 31 percent in the central suburbs. Read more>>
Evergrande Electric Car Unit Said to Start Production
China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group started its first mass production on Thursday, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Mass production for its inaugural Hengchi 5 sport-utility vehicles at its Tianjin production facilities came 12 days ahead of schedule, the people said, and the firm plans to hold an official ceremony in the next two weeks. Read more>>
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