China’s vast property market is expected to continue to decline at least through the next year, according to S&P Global Ratings, reports the South China Morning Post. “We estimate nationwide primary property sales will fall 8% in 2025 and between 6 to 7% in 2026, as overall demand remains soft,” said Edward Chan, director at S&P Global Ratings, at a webinar on Thursday.
This will continue to put pressure on Chinese developers, many of which are going through the challenge of delivering homes, while maintaining their operations to meet their debt obligations, the firm said. Distressed Chinese company Cifi Holdings, for example, said it will restructure $8.1 billion of its offshore debt, following other mainland developers’ efforts to update their financial reconstruction plans.
According to a stock exchange filing on Thursday, Cifi will cancel its existing debts, release current debtors from their obligations, issue about $6.73 billion in new bonds and pay roughly $9.5 million in cash to creditors—a plan that is expected to strengthen its capital structure and reduce its offshore obligations by around $1.4 billion.