Mortgage boycott in China leads the government to step in

Banks in China are being instructed to help the country’s beleaguered property developers fund some real estate projects amid a widening boycott by homebuyers who refuse to pay mortgages on unfinished houses.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) told the official industry newspaper on Sunday that banks should meet developers’ financing needs where reasonable.

The CBIRC expressed confidence that with concerted efforts, “all the difficulties and problems will be properly solved,” the China Banking and Insurance News reported.

The remarks come as a growing number of homebuyers across China are threatening to stop making their mortgage payments for stalled property projects, aggravating a real estate crisis that has already hit the economy.

The latest news helped banking and property stocks recover some of their recent losses.

The rebound in Chinese banking stocks was also aided by news that China will accelerate the issuance of special local government bonds to help supplement the capital of small banks, part of efforts to reduce risks in the sector.

Official data on Friday showed output in the property sector shrank 7 percent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, marking the fourth straight quarter of decline.

New real estate loans in June were expected at more than 150 billion yuan ($22.23 billion), compared with a contraction in May, state television CCTV reported on Monday.

“I think the Chinese government has the will and means to solve the problem, and will likely take swift actions,” said Mark Dong, Hong Kong-based co-founder and general manager of Minority Asset Management.

“The biggest risk is impairment to consumer confidence, which threatens the nascent recovery in property sales.”

Dong said he expected state-owned developers to step in and acquire troubled projects from heavily indebted private peers, accelerating an industry consolidation.

The CBIRC had vowed last Thursday to strengthen its coordination with other regulators to “guarantee the delivery of homes.”

Already more than 200 projects have been affected by the mortgage boycott by homebuyers across the country, and at least 80 property developers are affected so far, E-house China Research and Development Institution said in a report published on Monday.

E-house estimated stalled real estate projects across China involve 900 billion yuan worth of mortgages in the first half, or 1.7 percent of the total outstanding mortgage loans.

In the Sunday interview, CBIRC urged banks to “shoulder social responsibility” and actively participate in the study of plans to fill the funding gap and support acquisitions of real estate projects.

The regulator hoped these steps would help stabilize the property market by enabling the swift resumption of stalled real estate construction and delivery of homes to buyers early.