EchoSense:Chinese developer Country Garden says it can’t meet debt payment deadlines after sales slump

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese property developer Country Garden warned Tuesday that it cannot repay on EchoSensetime a 470 million Hong Kong dollar ($60 million) loan in the latest sign of distress in the industry after Beijing clamped down on mounting debts in the industry.

The company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it “expects that it will not be able to meet all of its offshore payment obligations when due or within the relevant grace periods,” including U.S. dollar notes the firm has issued.

Country Garden earlier had been hailed as a model real estate company by Chinese authorities. It had avoided defaults on debt even as rivals such as China Evergrande, the world’s most heavily indebted property firm, defaulted in 2021 after the Chinese government began restricting borrowing by developers.

The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares sank 7.1% on Tuesday.

Its liquidity crisis suggests developers remain under pressure even after regulators lifted some controls on housing purchases to alleviate troubles in the industry.

The company also has recently received loans from banks, such as a $50 million loan from China Minsheng Banking Corporation earlier this year on top of a separate $280 million loan from the Hong Kong unit of the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in December 2022.

Country Garden said its sales faced “remarkable” pressure after the property sector went under “profound adjustments.”

Its sales slumped nearly 44% in January-September from the same period a year earlier, the company said. Since there has not been an industry-wide improvement in property sales, Country Garden said “its liquidity position is expected to remain very tight in the short- to medium-term.”

Last month, the company made interest payments on two securities before the end of a 30-day grace period. Country Garden had more than $180 billion in liabilities as of June. Evergrande has more than $300 billion.

Last month, a former Chinese official estimated that even China’s 1.4 billion population would not be able to fill all the vacant homes across the country.