China

The number of foreclosed homes in China rose 43% year-on-year in 2023, according to a private survey on Monday, highlighting a worrying trend of rising mortgage delinquencies amid a sustained property market slump and a patchy economic recovery, Reuters reported. The number of foreclosed homes up for auction stood at 389,000 units last year, said China Index Academy, a major independent real estate research firm. A total of 99,000 units worth a combined 150 billion yuan ($20.84 billion) were successfully sold at auctions, the firm said.

The rupture of one of the world's busiest shipping routes has exposed the vulnerability of China's export-reliant economy to supply snarls and external demand shocks, Reuters reported. In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Premier Li Qiang emphasised the need to keep global supply chains "stable and smooth", without referring specifically to the Red Sea.

China's troubled property market ended last year with the worst declines in new home prices in nearly nine years, despite government efforts to prop up the sector that was once a key driver of the world's second largest economy, Reuters reported. New home prices in December logged their steepest drop since February 2015, while property sales measured by floor area fell 23% in December from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday.

China’s economic growth rate finished at one of the lowest levels in decades last year, underscoring the heavy toll that a property-sector collapse and weak consumer confidence have taken on the world’s second-largest economy despite the lifting of all Covid-19 restrictions, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product in China expanded 5.2% in the fourth quarter and for the full year in 2023, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

China’s state-owned banks are tightening curbs on funding to Russian clients after the US authorized secondary sanctions on overseas financial firms that aid Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. At least two banks ordered a review of their Russian business in recent weeks, focusing on cross-border deals, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.

China’s economy grew around 5.2% in 2023, surpassing the government’s official growth target for the year without relying on “massive stimulus,” Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in Davos, Bloomberg News reported. “Last year in 2023, the Chinese economy rebounded and moved upward with an estimated growth of around 5.2%, higher than the ‘around 5%’ target set at the beginning of last year,” Li said on Tuesday in his first appearance as China’s No. 2 official at the annual World Economic Forum. “In promoting economic development, we did not resort to massive stimulus,” Li added.

New bank lending in China rose less than expected in December, but 2023 lending hit a new record as the central bank kept policy accommodative to support an unexpectedly shaky economic recovery, Reuters reported. Chinese banks extended 1.17 trillion yuan ($163.31 billion) in new yuan loans in December, up from November but falling short of analysts' expectations, according to data released by the People's Bank of China on Friday.

China Aoyuan Group Ltd. is standing by for a pivotal Hong Kong court decision this week on its restructuring plan, a ruling that may accelerate the end of its tussles with creditors over $6 billion of offshore debt, Bloomberg News reported. After a two-day trial over a creditor’s objection to the offshore plan offered by the defaulted developer ended earlier this week, Judge Jonathan Harris said he will deliver his decision on Thursday.

China’s central bank signaled that it’s prepared to keep policy loose by lowering the amount of money banks must keep in reserve, reinforcing expectations among investors of more easing to come, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China will use a variety of tools to provide “strong support” for a reasonable growth in credit, said Zou Lan, head of the central bank’s monetary policy department, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency late Monday.

A subsidiary of Chinese developer Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd. has filed for chapter 11 protection in the Southern district of New York court, according to a court filing, Bloomberg News reported. Hudson 888 Owner LLC, whose business is “single asset real estate,” filed the petition, according to the court document dated Sunday. Its estimated liabilities and assets are both within the range of $100 million to $500 million, the filing shows. Hudson 888 Owner is a US unit of Xinyuan, according to a document on the SEC website.