SOURCE / ECONOMY
Multiple real estate projects resume construction after mortgage defaults raise concerns: report
Published: Jul 16, 2022 06:50 PM
Shenzhen real estate Photo:VCG

Photo:VCG


Multiple real estate projects have resumed construction after homebuyers halting mortgage repayments due to delayed apartment deliveries or suspended construction, domestic news outlet Financial News reported on Saturday.

A project developed by Greenland Holdings Co in Ganzhou, East China's Jiangxi Province has resumed construction, the report said, citing related mortgage bank's field visit to the project site on Wednesday.

Workers entered the construction site group by group since June. And after negotiation, the regional government decided to purchase part of the project's land which had not yet began construction and return nearly 400 million yuan ($59.2 million) of land transfer fees to Greenland according to the progress of the construction, the report said.

Another project in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province is expected to resume construction in August. 

Meanwhile, real estate developer Kaisa Group refuted rumors that the homebuyers stopped paying their mortgages for one of its projects in Shenzhen, saying that over 300 construction workers are working at the site, and the company has been inviting the homebuyers to visit the site regularly since June, according to a statement released by the company via its Wechat account on Thursday.

It is good news showing that companies are actively attempting to resume construction, Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Regional governments and developers jointly trying to solve the problem could offer an example for some of the other projects, Yan said, predicting that the instances of "halting mortgage repayments" would be addressed in August.

The phenomenon of homebuyers jointly halting mortgage repayments has come under the public spotlight recently, with over 100 projects across 18 provinces in China were cited in reports. Involved real estate developers include Evergrande Group, Greenland Holdings Co and China Aoyuan Group, according to media reports. 

Yan said earlier that ensuring on-time delivery is a top priority to address mortgage defaults, in order to avoid turning property problems into social problems.

As of Thursday, 15 Chinese banks disclosed their exposures to mortgage defaults and stressed that the risks they face are "controllable." Among them, 10 banks reported a total of 2.1 billion yuan in non-performing loans or those with delayed payments, according to guancha.cn, citing data from jwview.com. 

China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission is also monitoring events, reiterating its goal of stabilizing financial policies in the real estate sector and efforts to guide financial institutions to participate in risk easing.

Global Times