Hong Kong-listed Country Garden’s confirmation earlier this week that it had missed payments of $22.5m (£17.4m) on two of it international bonds has rocked the country’s already struggling property sector.
Country Garden’s liabilities are similar in scale to Evergrande, which collapsed in 2021 and triggered a series of other defaults. However, the developer was considered on of the best in the country and deemed “safer” that many of its peers.
The FT writes that its new woes show how deeply entrenched the property crisis has come in China and now casts doubt on the viability of private developers that have for decades driven the urbanisation and economic growth of the country.
Country Garden announced a loss of $7.6bn for the six months of 2023, compared with a profit of $265m in H1 2022.
