China’s first online gaming billionaire has acquired the Mia Hotel in downtown Shanghai in a deal worth about RMB 220 million ($32.6 million), reports the South China Morning Post. 

Chen Tianqiao – a reclusive entrepreneur and founder of Shanda Group known for his global investment portfolio – bought the hotel from Singapore-headquartered investment firm GLP at a below-market price, with analysts describing the deal as a “sound investment”.

The 53-year-old, who has stayed out of the public eye in China for years, appears to be looking to take advantage of the long downturn in the Chinese property market, which has caused prices to plunges since 2020.

Beijing has introduced a new policy package to relax home-buying curbs in a bid to stabilize its property market and unleash pent-up demand, reports Caixin.

Under the revised rules, the required period for social insurance or individual income tax payment records in Beijing for non-local families to buy homes within the Fifth Ring Road—a major highway encircling the city’s central districts—is reduced from two years to one year.

Eligible non-local families can only buy one home within the Fifth Ring Road or two homes if they have two or more children, while home purchases outside the Fifth Ring Road remain unrestricted.

China’s property slump is hollowing out the industry’s middle tier, leaving fewer developers able to sustain large-scale sales, reports Caixin.

Only six developers recorded sales of between RMB 30 billion ($4.4 billion) and RMB 100 billion in the first seven months of 2026, four fewer than in the same period a year earlier, according to data from China Index Academy (CIA). Three years earlier, 27 developers occupied that range.

The top 100 developers spent RMB 418.9 billion on land purchases in the first seven months of 2026, a 27.6% drop from the previous year. Total newly added inventory also fell 25.9% during the same period, erasing a brief recovery in 2025 when land purchases rose 34.3%.

China Vanke secured a RMB 519 million ($76.7 million) loan from its largest shareholder to cover impending obligations on two domestic bonds, reports Caixin. The move sees the property developer completing its initial round of extensions for all public debt maturing in 2026.

Shenzhen Metro Group, Vanke’s largest shareholder, provided the three-year loan at an interest rate 5 basis points below that of previous loans, according to a corporate filing released late July 21. The funds will mainly be used to meet upfront payment requirements tied to two recently extended onshore bonds, which require more than RMB 1 billion in initial cash payments by July 26.

The latest liquidity support highlights the mounting pressure on the state-backed developer as it seeks to avoid a broader restructuring. The piecemeal bond extensions are proving resource-intensive, while government support remains limited.

China Vanke has nominated a new board entirely controlled by Shenzhen’s state-owned sector, reports Caixin. This marks the end of the embattled developer’s long-standing professional-manager system.

All six candidates for non-independent director seats on its next board come from Shenzhen’s government or state-owned enterprises, according to a company filing Friday. None are from the developer’s longtime professional-management team.

The sweeping governance overhaul comes as Vanke, once a model of China’s mixed-ownership reform, grapples with an escalating liquidity crisis and massive financial losses that forced a state-led bailout in early 2025. In a separate announcement Friday, Vanke said it expects a first-half net loss attributable to shareholders of between RMB 12 billion ($1.8 billion) and RMB 15 billion, widening from a loss of about RMB 11.95 billion a year earlier.