China pumps £48bn into its property sector

CHINESE regulators told the nation’s second-tier banks to dole out another 400bn yuan (£48bn) of financing for the property sector in the final two months of the year, adding to a raft of support measures that have stoked recent gains in the beleaguered industry’s stocks and bonds.

The money – in the form of loans, mortgages and bond investments – adds to the £72bn of net financing that the country’s six largest lenders were told to extend in September, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News, asking not to be identified as it is private. The People’s Bank of China and Chinese regulators did not immediately reply to Bloomberg’s requests for comment.

China’s financial policymakers are stepping up efforts to arrest the slump in the country’s property sector, after measures from interest rate cuts to subsidies failed to revive growth. A crackdown on the real estate sector has led to a string of bond defaults and residential construction halts that have angered homebuyers. House prices sank for a 13th successive month in September.

The latest financial support, along with signs of easing pandemic restrictions, have led to a sharp rebound in China assets.

A Bloomberg Intelligence gauge of Chinese developers’ stocks jumped a record 18pc yesterday.