Several cities across China have lowered down payment and mortgage loan interest rates, in response to the latest wave of stimulus measures to boost lackluster property demand, state media reported, Reuters reported. The down payment for first-time homebuyers in Hefei city and Wuhan city have been lowered from 20% to 15% - the lowest ratio allowed that the central bank announced last week, Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday. The ratio for second-time homebuyers was cut from 30% to 25%, the report said.

Oaktree Capital Management took ownership of Italy’s Inter Milan, one of the most storied football clubs in Europe, after its Chinese owner defaulted on a loan, Bloomberg News reported. The US fund has taken control of the club as of Wednesday after conglomerate Suning Holding Group Co. failed to repay €395 million ($428 million), Oaktree said in an emailed statement. The collateral backing the debt was a majority stake in the football club, Bloomberg News reported.

China Vanke has secured a fresh loan that takes its total borrowings this month to more than US$1 billion, part of the state-backed developer’s ongoing efforts to temper liquidity pressures as it seeks to finish housing projects, the Wall Street Journal reported. Vanke, one of China’s few major developers yet to default in the country’s ongoing property crisis, said in a stock-exchange filing on Monday that it had obtained a loan for 1.2 billion yuan ($165.9 million) from Bank of China to use for development projects in Changzhou, a city in Jiangsu province.

China will control the intertwined risks in the property sector, local government debt and small local financial institutions, Vice Premier He Lifeng said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. China is seeking to restore confidence in its financial system, which is mired in a property crisis and mounting local government debt, as the economy faces a host of challenges. The country will also seek to prevent systemic risks and crack down on illegal financial activities, state broadcaster CCTV quoted He as saying.

China’s benchmark lending rates were held steady this month, central bank data showed Monday after Beijing announced bold moves to address property-sector malaise, the Wall Street Journal reported. The one-year loan prime rate was steady at 3.45% while the five-year rate was unchanged at 3.95%, according to the official data. Economists had expected the benchmark rates to be left untouched after the People’s Bank of China kept key policy rates, including the interest rate on the medium-term lending facility that is used to price LPRs, unchanged earlier this month.

There are enough unsold homes in China to house every family in California and New York combined. Beijing might finally tackle the problem with a huge outlay of cash, but investors should curb their enthusiasm, according to a Wall Street Journal commentary. It might not be enough, or it could overshoot and reignite the housing bubble. Beijing rolled out measures Friday to support the sluggish housing market. The most eye-catching move is that it would let local governments buy apartments at “reasonable prices” to use as affordable housing in places with excessive inventory.

China rolled out its boldest steps yet to fix its broken housing market, as Beijing sought to finally bring to an end a drawn-out real-estate crunch that has hobbled its economy for years, the Wall Street Journal reported. The centerpiece of Friday’s measures is Beijing’s embrace of a policy already being tested in some cities in China—getting city and local authorities to buy up unsold homes and convert them into affordable housing for low- and middle-income families.

U.S. authorities charged two Chinese nationals in a cryptocurrency scam that laundered at least $73 million from defrauded victims, the Justice Department said on Friday, Reuters reported. U.S. officials arrested Yicheng Zhang in Los Angeles on Thursday, according to an indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in California's central district later that day. Daren Li, a dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, was arrested at the Atlanta airport in April. The U.S.

Shares of Chinese property developers surged on rising expectations that government entities in China are moving to help buy up excess housing in a bid to revive the struggling real-estate sector, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index, which tracks Chinese property developers listed in Hong Kong, was up 5.6% in afternoon trading Thursday. Sino-Ocean and CIFI rose 46% and 29%, respectively, while Longfor, China Vanke, Agile and Sunac China were each more than 10% higher.

China’s central bank held key policy rates steady on Wednesday, a move that could preface a hold on benchmark lending rates later this month, the Wall Street Journal reported. The People’s Bank of China injected 125 billion yuan ($17.28 billion) worth of liquidity via the medium-term lending facility, which charges banks an interest rate of 2.5%. The rate was unchanged from last operation. The MLF is a tool the central bank uses to lend to commercial banks and acts as a guide for the benchmark loan prime rate, which is tied to mortgages and other loans.