Andrew Galbraith & Patturaja Murugaboopathy

(Reuters) – Chinese property developers face huge amounts of debt due to mature this year. This comes at a time in which Chinese property sales are slowing and traditional lending markets remain closed after Beijing’s crackdown on borrowing.

Refinitiv data indicates that Chinese real estate developers will have $117 trillion worth of debt due in 2022. $36 billion are dollars.

Graphic: Chinese real estate debt maturing in the next three years, https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-DEBT/dwvkrknarpm/chart.png Developers in the country are facing an unprecedented liquidity squeeze as years of regulatory curbs on borrowing lead to a string of offshore debt defaults and credit rating downgrades.

Developers were further adversely affected by the slowdown in this sector. December saw property investment decline at its fastest rate since early 2020, clouding the country’s prospects despite strong headline economic growth.

China Evergrande Group is having trouble repaying more than $300 billion worth of liabilities. This includes almost $20 billion of offshore bonds that rating agencies deemed to be in default last month due to missed payments.

Even the biggest developers are suffering from worsening credit. This has impacted equity and bond prices in recent months.

China’s largest developer, Country Garden, issued a 3.125% Oct 2025 bond, which was 73cs on Tuesday.

Refinitiv data shows that developers have debts of $27 billion and $31 billion respectively.

Graphic: Chinese real estate firms’ debt maturing in each qtr, https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-DEBT/gkplgbzxlvb/chart.png Kaisa Group Holdings, Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd and Yunnan Health & Cultural Tourism Holding Group Co Ltd were among the developers having at least $2 billion worth of debt maturing this year, topping the list.

Graphic: Chinese real estate firm’s debt maturing in 2022, https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-DEBT/jnvwejzyrvw/chart.png Evergrande narrowly avoided a technical default on an bond earlier this month after bondholders agreed to extend a payment date. Beijing may ease its purge of the property sector, since top officials are more concerned with stability and encouraging growth.