In Shenzhen, a metropolis born of China’s economic prosperity, Paibang Village is a reminder of the city’s modest past and the challenges ahead for reviving the country’s property sector. Paibang is what China calls an urban village, a labyrinth of low-slung apartment buildings and mom-and-pop storefronts connected by a maze of alleyways and narrow roads. There are hundreds of them in Shenzhen, a municipality of 18 million people next to Hong Kong, and thousands of such villages across China.

Office workers are not the only ones grumbling about the unattractiveness of Qianhai, a special economic zone where Chinese dreams of global financial might and economic prosperity that once seemed inevitable are now darkened by half-empty skyscrapers and shopping malls as well as barely used motorways, Reuters reported. This Shenzhen appendix opened for business more than a decade ago after an initial investment of $45 billion, with state media calling it mainland China's own Hong Kong: a future international tech and finance hub; a testbed for liberalising markets and information access.

China's industrial output and retail sales growth beat expectations in October, but the underlying economic picture highlighted significant pockets of weakness with the crisis-hit property sector continuing to forestall a full-blown revival, Reuters reported. The world's second-biggest economy has struggled to mount a strong post-COVID recovery as distress in the housing market, local government debt risks, slow global growth and geopolitical tensions have dented momentum.

China plans to provide at least 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) of low-cost financing to the nation’s urban village renovation and affordable housing programs in its latest effort to shore up the struggling property market, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China would inject funds in phases through policy banks with the money ultimately trickling down to households for home purchases, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.

China has ordered its local governments to halt public-private partnership projects identified as "problematic" and replaced a 10% budget spending allowance for these ventures with a vetting mechanism by Beijing as it tries to curb municipal debt risks, Reuters reported. The guidelines were mentioned in a cabinet document that was circulated among local governments, policy banks and state lenders last month, said the two sources with knowledge of the matter. The latest guidelines have not been reported previously.

Maike Metals International Co., once one of the most powerful traders in China’s massive copper market, filed for bankruptcy after more than a year of debt struggles, Bloomberg News reported. The firm founded by entrepreneur He Jinbi in the early 1990s was until recently responsible for more than a quarter of China’s copper imports. On Monday, Maike said the Intermediate People’s Court of Xi’an accepted its filing, a step toward a final ruling by the court to wind up the company.

China’s show of support for one of its top builders has reinvigorated the property sector, but investors want to see more concrete measures before diving back in, Bloomberg News reported. Market players are looking for Beijing to unveil further steps to reverse a long-running slump after a pivotal week where authorities signaled their backing for China Vanke Co., the second-largest developer by contracted sales. On Tuesday, policymakers met firms including Vanke, Longfor Group Holdings Ltd, Gemdale Corp (China) and Poly Developments and Holdings Group Co.

Global ratings agency Fitch said today that it plans to withdraw all the ratings on China's Country Garden Services Holding on or about Dec. 12 for commercial reasons, Reuters reported. "Fitch believes that Country Garden Services investors benefit from increased rating coverage by Fitch and is providing approximately 30 days' notice to the market of the rating withdrawal," the ratings agency said in a statement on Monday. Fitch had downgraded Country Garden Services to BB+ and placed its rating on negative watch last week.

China will probably add more cash into the financial system this week as the largest amount of policy loans in a year come due. Some market watchers also expect a near-term reduction in banks’ reserve requirement ratio, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China will offer 950 billion yuan ($130 billion) through the medium-term lending facility Wednesday, according to the median estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. That would exceed the 850 billion yuan maturing this month. Most economists expect the one-year policy interest rate to remain unchanged at 2.5%.

China's embattled Country Garden is aiming to pull together a tentative plan to restructure its offshore debt by the end of this year, Reuters reported. The nation's biggest private property developer, which missed a coupon payment in October triggering default terms, then aims to start formal negotiations with offshore bondholders by February or March next year. They added the firm expects to inform key bondholders of its cash flow projections by the year's end, as part of the basis for the tentative restructuring plan. The sources declined to be identified as the matter was confidential.