Chinese property trusts face record repayments next year as the real-estate market cools, fueling speculation among bond funds that more developers will collapse. The trusts, which channel money from wealthy individuals to smaller builders that have trouble obtaining financing elsewhere, must repay $32.7 billion in 2015. That’s almost double amount due this year.
Trust loan defaults will rise substantially. It won’t be surprising if there are more collapses of China’s property companies. Those companies that suffer from weak sales, that bought land too aggressively last year funded by debt and that have poor access to capital markets will potentially experience cash flow pressure.
The real-estate industry poses the biggest near-term risk to growth in the world’s second-largest economy after new home prices dropped in the most cities in two years last month. China’s banking regulator said on June 6 it will monitor developer finances, a sign of concern defaults may spread after the March collapse of Zhejiang Xingrun Real Estate Co., a builder south of Shanghai.
China is cracking down on off-balance sheet lending known as shadow banking, which includes trust companies and wealth management products issued by banks. The industry was worth 38.8 trillion yuan as of the end of last year, according to a Barclays Plc report last month. Concern that defaults could spread mounted in January after a 3 billion-yuan trust product called Credit Equals Gold No. 1, which had raised money for a failed coal miner, had to be bailed out days before maturing.