Banks in Shanghai have been asked to cut back property loans
The headlines are full of stories of the Chinese government clamping down on credit to the real estate industry today, including comments from a top banking regulator saying that property loans are not a big issue. In other news, Hong Kong’s Wheelock is selling flats in the New Territories for just above cost while Sino Land and Empire Group pay HK$2.5B for an Aberdeen site. Read on for all these stories and more.
Shanghai Banks Told Not to Lend to Property Industry
Banks have been asked to stop issuing loans to property developers for land purchases, and to scrutinize individual borrowers who divorce too quickly in order to apply for mortgages, Shanghai Daily learnt from sources yesterday.
The crackdown comes as the city government attempts to further control the amount of loans going into the overheated local property market. Read more>>
PBOC Tells Banks to Rein in Real Estate Loans
China’s central bank summoned executives from 17 banks to its offices in western Beijing on Wednesday and demanded that they step up efforts to rein in home loans amid a nationwide property-market frenzy.
The in-person directive from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) followed a slew of stringent measures from numerous Chinese cities aimed at curbing the housing market. Read more>>
China Banking Regulator Says Not to Worry About Mortgage Growth
China’s banking sector has “little to worry about” from its fast growing mortgage lending business, an official with the China Banking Regulatory Commission said on Thursday.
“The real estate market has limited direct impact on banks,” Wang Shengbang told reporters at a briefing.
While home mortgage loans account for two-thirds of all real estate loans, 55 percent of mortgage loans have a loan-to-value ratio of less than 60 percent, Wang said, adding that the average loan-to-value ratio of all mortgage loans is 55 percent. Read more>>
China Chases Rumor Sources in Battle Against Bubble
China is intensifying a crackdown on property developers and others who spread rumors intended to push up prices, part of government efforts to head off a housing bubble.
China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on Wednesday ordered local regulators to intensify probes into rumor-mongering and “malicious” advertisements which play up rising home prices, saying it was disrupting the market, according to a statement on the ministry’s website. Read more>>
Wheelock Launches New Hong Kong Homes at Just Above Cost
Wheelock Properties has released its new project Napa in Tuen Mun at a price close to development cost, amid intense competition in the New Territories where a large number of new flats are under development.
The developer on Thursday announced the price list for the first batch of 92 units at an average of HK$10,438 per square foot, after factoring a maximum discount of 18.5 per cent. Read more>>
Kwok, Sino JV Buys Land in HK’s New Territories
A joint venture of Sino Land (0083) and Empire Group Holdings beat major developers, including Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016) and Henderson Land (0012), for the purchase of a major development site in Aberdeen.
Grand Apex, the Sino-Empire Group joint venture vehicle, acquired the site for HK$2.53 billion, the most expensive commercial land sale in Hong Kong Island’s history. The deal marks another milestone in Empire Group founder Walter Kwok Ping-sheung’s steady rise to prominence in the local property market since he parted ways with his brothers at the helm of SHKP, where he used to serve as chairman. Read more>>
Chinese Companies Selling Real Estate Assets to Stay Afloat
Struggling Chinese companies, some on the brink of delisting, are turning to the soaring property market to bolster their books.
At least 12 firms listed on mainland exchanges announced plans to sell real estate holdings in September amid a surge in property prices, according to Bloomberg calculations from stock exchange disclosures. Among them, seven suffered losses in the first half, while four have been placed on the exchanges’ watch list for possibly being delisted. Most of them are in businesses unrelated to real estate. 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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