The country’s top 100 developers reported combined contracted sales of RMB 165.5 billion (US$24 billion) in January, down 27% from a year earlier, reports the South China Morning Post, citing data released over the weekend by China Real Estate Information Corporation (CRIC).
Stress was particularly acute among offshore borrowers. The combined contracted sales of 18 major developers with outstanding US-dollar bonds fell 53.67% in January from December, and 18.51% year on year, a Barclays report published on Monday showed, pointing to weakening debt-repayment capacity.
Even after adjusting for seasonal effects, the month-on-month drop in January sales for these major developers was steeper than the post-Covid historical average decline of 44%, the British bank said.