Fast-growing real estate agency Lianjia has been criticised for diving into down-payment loans
April kicks off in China with a debt-fuelled surge in housing sales triggering comparisons to the US subprime crisis, as a Chinese telecom tycoon studies Latin American infrastructure history while trying to dig Nicaragua’s copycat Panama canal. All these stories and more will be yours, if you just read on.
Subprime-Housing Risks Raise Red Flags in China
Government efforts to tackle a glut of vacant housing in China by spurring home lending have triggered a bigger problem: a surge in risky subprime-style loans that is generating alarm.
Home buyers in China normally put down a third of the cost of a new property upfront. But a rapid rise in buyers borrowing for their down payments—an echo of the easy credit that cratered the U.S. housing market and sparked the financial crisis—has led authorities to clamp down. Read more>>
Chinese Telecom Tycoon Stumbles Over Nicaraguan Canal
A Spanish explorer conducted the first survey to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans here in the 16th century. Napoleon III of France dreamed about it. The railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt briefly had rights to do it. Nicaragua’s history is littered with dozens of failed canal schemes.
But when a Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, officially broke ground in a field outside this sleepy Pacific Coast village about a year ago, many Nicaraguans believed that this time, finally, they would get their canal. Read more>>
Chinese Developer Sales Rose 115% in Q1 2016
Sales by property developers from mainland China jumped in the first quarter of this year after market sentiment improved on the back of government support for the sector.
Evergrande Real Estate said on Tuesday its sales in the first three months surged 115 per cent year-on-year to 65.7 billion yuan. Read more>>
Offshore Listed Chinese Developers Plan More Panda Bonds in 2016
Real estate firms are poised to become the pioneers in China’s panda bond market as part of their efforts to diversify financing channels and avoid foreign-exchange risks.
While panda bonds are still at an early stage of development in the country, a number of developers have shown a strong interest. Read more>>
Chinese Real Estate Project Triggers Protests in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankans including nuns, priests, environmental activists and fishermen protested in the capital Colombo on Monday against the controversial luxury real estate project, called Port City, being built by a unit of Hong Kong-listed China Communications Construction Company.
Luxury sea-front property including a marina and golf course are being built on land reclaimed from the sea. The size of the reclaimed site is estimated to be bigger than Monaco. Read more>>
Tracing 50 Years of Hong Kong Malls
As the P&O cruise ship Canberra entered Victoria Harbour, the vessel dwarfed an escort of junks welcoming it with firecrackers and a lion dance. At noon that day, 50 years ago, Hong Kong governor David Trench, surrounded by 2,000 guests, declared Ocean Terminal open.
The Canberra docked at the Tsim Sha Tsui facility at 4pm, and 2,000 passengers disembarked at the doorstep of Asia’s first US-style shopping mall. Read more>>
Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.
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