If last week's developments at China's most indebted property developer are anything to go by, 2022 might see Beijing soften its attempts to purge the sector and make more allowances for economic stability, Reuters reported. China Evergrande Group, whose rocky financial situation has roiled Chinese property firms and global financial markets over the past year, got a reprieve this week after investors agreed to extend a payment date on a yuan bond.

China Evergrande Group on Thursday secured a crucial approval from onshore bondholders to delay payments on one of its bonds, as other cash-strapped developers also scrambled to negotiate new terms with creditors to avoid defaults, Reuters reported. Struggling with more than $300 billion in liabilities, sector giant Evergrande was seeking more time for bond coupon and redemption payments to avoid a technical default that would have complicated its politically sensitive restructuring.

Several of China’s largest banks have become more selective about funding real estate projects by local government financing vehicles, concerned that some are taking on too much risk after they replaced private developers as key buyers of land, Bloomberg News reported. At least five state-run banks have imposed new restrictions this year on loans to weaker LGFVs seeking to buy land and develop new real estate projects, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.

It was once hailed as the future of Chinese banking, a privately run lender that would mint money by outmaneuvering its state-owned rivals, Bloomberg News reported. An ill-fated push into property lending has instead turned China Minsheng Banking Corp. into one of the biggest casualties of the real estate debt crisis that’s roiling Asia’s largest economy. Battered by mounting losses on loans to developers including China Evergrande Group, Minsheng’s stock tumbled 31% in the 12 months through last week -- the worst performance in the 155-member Bloomberg World Banks Index.

Chinese developer Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. succeeded in delaying payment on a dollar bond due Thursday despite buying back only 16% of the note, underscoring the company’s liquidity shortage, Bloomberg News reported. The firm will repurchase $116.4 million of a $725 million note under a tender offer, according to a company filing to the Hong Kong exchange Tuesday. The company last month said it had planned to set aside about $300 million for the buyback. As part of the offer, bondholders agreed to extend repayment on the remaining principal by six months.

Cities across China are imposing tougher restrictions to try to control new outbreaks of COVID-19, with Tianjin battling the highly contagious Omicron variant which has been detected to have been transmitted locally in two other provinces, Reuters reported. A Tianjin official told a Tuesday press briefing that 49 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms have been detected during the latest outbreak. The city of 14 million people, around 100km (62 miles) from Beijing, is now implementing tough controls to stop the coronavirus from spreading, especially to neighbouring Beijing.

Taiwan will set up a $1 billion credit program aimed at funding projects by Lithuanian and Taiwanese companies amid economic pressure from China over an office that the island opened in the European Union country, Lithuanian officials said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. It follows Taiwan’s announcement last week about creating a $200 million investment fund to help Lithuania amid a diplomatic row with Beijing. American and Lithuanian officials say China has blocked imports from the Baltic nation, a close U.S. ally.

Embattled Chinese developer Shimao Group Holdings Ltd.’s shares jumped the most on record after REDD reported that it’s in talks with a bigger rival on asset disposals, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s stock closed 19% higher in Hong Kong on Monday, while subsidiary Shanghai Shimao Co. surged by the 10% daily limit in Shanghai. Shimao’s dollar bonds also climbed. The moves followed REDD’s report that China Vanke Co. is in talks to acquire assets from Shimao, citing an unidentified source close to the latter.

Heavily indebted property firm China Evergrande Group said on Monday that it has moved out of its headquarters in Shenzhen to another property in the city to cut costs and was still registered in the southern Chinese city, Reuters reported. The company issued its statement after Chinese media outlet The Paper reported that Evergrande had moved its headquarters from Shenzhen to nearby Guangzhou. Evergrande said it has moved out of Shenzhen's Excellence Centre, which is owned by another company, to a building that Evergrande owns in the city but gave no further details on the new set-up.

Shimao Group Holdings Ltd., a bellwether for financial contagion in China’s embattled property industry, suffered its biggest-ever bond rout on Thursday after a creditor said one of the developer’s units defaulted on a local loan, Bloomberg News reported. The Shimao unit failed to pay 645 million yuan ($101 million) of a total 792 million yuan due by Dec. 25, according to a notice sent to investors by China Credit Trust Co. The trust firm had demanded early repayment by Dec. 25 after the developer failed to meet installment requirements, according to the notice.