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Country Garden Sales Drop Worsens as China Housing Saga Drags On

(Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese builder Country Garden Holdings Co.’s sales slump exacerbated in November, adding to the Chinese developer’s liquidity concern as it gains more time to map out a debt overhaul. 

Contracted sales for November declined 52.3% from a year earlier to 3.01 billion yuan ($414 million), widening from a 31% drop in October, Bloomberg calculations based on corporate filings show. 

China in the past two months unleashed its strongest package of policies to ignite the property market, including cutting borrowing costs on existing mortgages, relaxing buying curbs in big cities and lowering taxes on home purchases. But with deflationary pressure adding to the economic gloom, residential market sales fell again after a short recovery. 

The Foshan-based developer has seen sharper sales slowdown than its peers due to its deliberate push downmarket by focusing on migrant workers in smaller cities in previous years. Country Garden’s month-on-month decline in home sales largely surpasses the 6.9% slide at the 100 biggest real estate companies tracked by China Real Estate Information Corp. 

The distressed real estate giant is counting on a turnaround in sales to persuade debt holders and fight off liquidation. A creditor filed a petition against Country Garden in February after the builder defaulted on dollar debt a year ago. The company is in talks with creditors for a debt overhaul. But it has already missed a self-imposed target date for getting key creditor support for terms of its restructuring plan, Bloomberg reported last month. 

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.